


Even Cosmic Deities Make Mistakes

by Hiddlestoner0107



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Cor is a good bro/dad, Cussing fo sho, Extreme Loss, Gladio can be an ass, Iggy is actually a mother hen, Prompto is pure and must be loved, Reader is smol but strong, Self-Harm, Suicide Attempt, Trans Male Reader, but he is a good person, sorry no smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2018-11-11 13:40:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 56,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11149572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hiddlestoner0107/pseuds/Hiddlestoner0107
Summary: The reader has been transported from their universe to Final Fantasy XV. They are a trans boy from Texas who has no idea what the hell they are doing in this strange place. There is self harm, self harm mentions, and a suicide attempt. Please read only if you know you can handle that. But I promise for the most part that this is mainly sarcastic sass featuring mother hen Iggy.





	1. Toto, I think we ain't in Texas no more.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello. I know I haven't been active recently, and I apologize. I was studying hard for school and some other personal stuff came up. Regarding my MCU work, I've been having major writer's block, so if any of you have any ideas, please feel free to share them. I've decided that I'm going to end the Overwatch work where it is, as I can't think of any way to continue it, and it has a pretty good ending already. If anyone has any requests, please, request away! I'm not that well versed in smut, but I am not adverse to writing it. With all of that said, please enjoy this story!

I stumbled to the ground, dirt flying into my face and my mouth. I coughed and spit, then stood up. I took in my surroundings. There was no civilization as far as I could see, and all around me were rock formations, dirts, and desert plants. I had no idea where I was. I figured maybe Arizona or New Mexico. Maybe somewhere near the Grand Canyon. I whipped around when I heard a distant roar. There shouldn’t have been anything that roars anywhere near where I thought I was. I quickly scanned my area, looking for somewhere to hide. I spotted an elevated rock platform, with what looked like a shallow cave. I took another look around before dashing to the outcropping. I scrabbled up the rocks, reaching the alcove and crouching as far away from the opening as I could. The alcove itself was only about three or four feet deep and maybe four feet high. I took my switchblade out from my back pocket. I kept it closed to prevent light from glinting on it, but I kept my finger on the release button. If anything found me, I would fight like a cornered animal, which I guess I was. I flinched when I heard an anguished howl, my heart pounding in my chest. I had no idea how I got there, but I wanted to leave as soon as possible. I watched as the last bits of daylight slowly faded, and nighttime took over. It was then that I noticed the rock platform had glowing cracks in it. I started to crawl out to investigate when I heard voices and footsteps coming up the rocks. I scrambled back, wondering why anyone in their right mind would be out here. There seemed to be four people, probably men. One had a deep, gravelly voice, one had what sounded like a british accent. One of them sounded like he was maybe a little older then me, his voice still containing the pitch of an adolescent. The last one had a softer voice, but he wasn’t quiet. He sounded slightly regal, although it was the other who had an accent. The one with the younger voice sounded excited, while the other three seemed a bit calmer.

“Dude, we destroyed those voretooths!! They didn’t know what hit ‘em!”

 “Yes, it was an adrenaline rush, to say the least.”

 I heard their footsteps approach, and four pairs of legs came into view. If they took even just three steps back, they would be able to see me. I held my breath, my heart in my stomach. They seemed to be making camp on the rock. I didn’t know how long I could stay crouched like that. Once I accepted that they would be there a while, I started to doze off. My eyes were closed and my head was nodding when I heard a yell and a loud crash. I yelped, the sudden outburst startling me. I slammed my hand on my mouth as I heard the men stop what they were doing. I shakily took my hand away and grabbed my knife from behind me. As the larger pair of legs made their way towards me, I silently clicked my blade open. When the man was at the opening, I rolled out of there. I jumped up and swung my blade wildly before running off. I leaped off the platform, stumbling and falling flat. I heard their steps racing towards me, so I scrambled up, taking off in no particular direction. I wasn’t in the best of shape, but I could run pretty fast. The problem was, I had small legs and I wasn’t built for endurance. After about five minutes of sprinting, I felt my calves start to burn and my lungs heave. I forced myself on, as I could hear the group right behind me. I jumped a fence, and I only made it a few steps before I was tackled from behind. I tried my hardest to get away, but the man had me pinned. I was convinced it was over. I was never going home, and I was going to die in the middle of nowhere. I saw the others’ feet in my peripheral vision. I kept half-heartedly struggling, but I knew I was caught. I finally gave up, and laid still, conserving my energy for the right moment. I heard the man holding me down say

 “Who are you and why were you spying on us?”

 “I wasn’t spying. I just appeared here at dusk and I didn’t want to be out at night. I saw the alcove, and I hid. I was going to come out, but then you showed up and I was afraid. Apparently for good reason.”

 The man with the British accent stooped down, and I saw his face. He looked noble, with thin glasses and spiky blonde hair.

 “You said you _appeared_ here?”

 “I was chilling out in my room, and next thing I know, I’ve got a mouthful of dirt in the middle of a desert.”

 “Forgive me, but I am having trouble believing that.”

 “Please, I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know where I am. I just want to get home. I live in Texas. If you can point me in the general direction, I’ll just leave.”

 The one called Prompto seemed confused.

 “Texas? Where’s that? Is that in Niflheim?”

 “What? No. It’s in the United States. You know, America? Land of Opportunity?”

 “There’s not a place called Texas or America. Stop lying, or I’ll force the truth out of you.”

 I turned my head as much as I could to glare at the man on my back. He was seriously crushing me.

 “Listen here, you fucking boulder. I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but I swear to God, you try me, and I will cut you seven ways to Thursday. I really am from Texas, there is a place called America. Where have you been living? Under a rock?”

 “No. We’ve been in the Crown City of Lucis.”

 I looked up at the regal voice.

 “Lucis? We never learned about that in world history.”

 “That’s surprising, considering you live in here.”

 “I don’t live here! I’m not from here! I just want to get home. I have to take care of my little sister. My mom is gone on a business trip and she won’t be back for three days. She’s all alone. Please, just let me go. She’s only four, she can’t take care of herself. She needs me.”

 I felt my voice break with tears. I thought of Hannah all alone in our house. We lived on a ranch, so we had no neighbours within five miles. She wouldn’t last without me.

 “You really are not from here?”

 I looked at the British man.

 “No! My name is Y/N, I’m 16. I live on a ranch in Texas. I’m a junior in high school. I’m supposed to start dual credit classes in the fall. My mom is a horse breeder. My little sister’s name is Hannah. She has blonde hair with sky blue eyes. You don’t understand. I _have_ to get back.”

 “Tell me exactly where you live.”

 “Uhm, Texas. It’s in the United States on the North American continent on the planet Earth.”

 “Ignis, what are you thinking?”

 The regal voice sounded on my right.

 “I’m thinking he may be telling the truth.”

 “Come on, you can’t be serious.”

 “Is it really so far-fetched? You know the studies of other worlds and universes. It is widely accepted by astrologists that there could be many other worlds, apart from our own. I think Y/N here may be from one of those other worlds.”

 “What? No, there aren’t other worlds. There’s other planets, but not worlds. I can tell you the whole solar system, if you want.”

 “Child, you are in a world that is not your own. I assume you did not come here voluntarily.”

 “No, definitely not.”

 "Then there is a reason you were brought here. And we must find a way to send you back.”

 “Iggy, are you sure you believe him?”

 “Yes, Noct. This child has an established life in another world, and we must return him. Gladio, I believe you can release him. Though do disarm him.”

 My switchblade was wrenched out of my hand, and then I was let up. I jumped up, looking around at the men surrounding me. The one who had restrained me was extremely tall, probably at least 6’5. He was well built, with scars littered across his exposed chest and one on the right side of his face. The one called Ignis was also fairly tall, maybe 6’3 or 6’4. He was of a slimmer build,  and he held himself high. Noctis, the one with the regal voice was only a few inches taller than me. No more than 6’1. He had shaggy black hair, and he wore all black fatigues. Prompto was the same height, maybe an inch or two shorter. He was blonde, with a black denim jacket and grey fatigue pants. He seemed to have a nervous energy about him, as he was constantly moving. I took a small step back, uncomfortable with being the smallest. I felt my body tense, going into fight or flight mode.

 “Don’t even try running.”

 I glared at Gladio.

 “I have no wish to be held against my will again. I try to avoid being crushed.”

 “Gladio, perhaps we should be a bit gentler.”

 “There’s no need for that. I’m not a kid.”

 That got me looks.

 “You know what I mean.”

 I sighed.

 “I..I’m really not in my world anymore?”

 “No.”

 “But.. Hannah. She.. she’s probably so scared right now.”

 “I’m sure she will be fine.”

 “No, we live on a ranch. The nearest neighbour is five miles away. She’s home alone with my dogs, and my mom won’t be back for three days.”

 “You must not worry yourself about that. Perhaps everything will remain the same until you return. It’s not unlikely.”

 “God, I hope so.”

 I felt my body tire as the adrenaline left me. I stood as straight as I could, and looked at Ignis.

 “What am I gonna do?”

 “For now, you should come with us. We will work out the rest in the morning.”

 “But..”

 “Unless you wanna get your ass killed by demons, I suggest you get moving.”

 I turned to the owner of the offensive tone.

 “You know, you really don’t do well with first impressions. There is such a thing as not being a total dick, you know.”

 “You talk a lot of shit for someone so small.”

 “I don’t talk unless I can back it up.”

 “Then you better shut your mouth. Your mouth is making threats you can’t keep.”

 “And you know that for a fact?”

 “Are you saying you can take me?”

 “Well, you know what they say. The bigger they are,” I stepped closer to him, glaring straight up at him, “the harder. they. fall.”

 He made a move to grab me, so I ducked, spinning around behind him. I kicked him in the back of the knee, knocking him off balance. I attempted to follow up, but I was held back.

 “I can’t have you beating up my friends, no matter how tough they are.”

 I ripped away from Ignis’ grasp.

 “Maybe he shouldn’t underestimate people.”

 “Perhaps. But for now, we are all tired. If you must, you can continue your scuffle in the morning.”

 I shot a glare at Gladio, which he returned. It was a bit more intimidating coming from him, considering he was twice my size. Only slightly. I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

 “Alright! Let’s hit the sack.”

 I couldn’t help but smile at Prompto’s enthusiasm. He was upbeat even when tension was high. I guessed he helped the group remember to stay lighthearted. We walked for about thirty minutes. I was surprised I had been able to run that far. In the heat of the moment, it felt like I had run about 300 yards, taking maybe five minutes at most. Gladio had tackled me about a mile and half from their camp.

 “Why did you keep after me for so long?”

 “If you turned out to be a spy, we couldn’t let you go.”

 “We started to think we would lose you when Gladio caught you. You run fast for someone with short legs.”

 “Well, adrenaline is a hell of a drug. I probably won’t ever run that fast or that far ever again. I only slowed down because I thought I had gotten far enough ahead to rest. I guess no matter how far I am, someone with longer legs is gonna catch me.”

 “Well, I’m glad you’re not a spy. We’d have to kill you then.”

 I whipped my head around to stare wide-eyed at Noctis. He noticed the bewildered look on my face, and let out a hearty laugh.

 “I’m kidding. As mean as Gladio makes us seem, we’re not that bad.”

 “I’m sure our enemies would disagree.”

 “You guys have _enemies?_ ”

 “Yeah, that’s what happens when you’re the Crown Prince of Lucis.”

 “What?”

 “Noct is the heir to the throne of Lucis. We are heading to Altissia for a ceremony, then we will return for the coronation.”

 “Well, shit. Uhm, I mean, shoot. Gosh darn. Sorry for earlier, your highness.”

 “Don’t call me your highness. It’s just Noctis. And I’m not five, you don’t have to watch your language.”

 “Uhh, okay. I’ve never really met royalty before. Where I come from, almost every country is a democracy. The only country that has a monarch is England, and she’s more of a mascot than anything.”

 “The queen is a mascot?”

 “Well, starting about 700 years ago in 1300, England had a King, and he ruled as a king would. The royal line kept going and going until around 1890, when England switched to a democracy. The royal family is still royal, and they have the respect and privileges and such, but they don’t really have any say in the country’s politics, finance, or anything. Everyone around the world loves Queen Elizabeth II, though. If she were the ruler of England, they would honestly be much better off than they are now.”

 “So, she’s just.. There?”

 “I mean, kind of, but she has much more significance than you think. She’s still the face of England, and she has to conduct herself as if she were the sole ruler of the country. She’s there to keep the tradition alive. She also acts as the country’s ambassador on occasion. Sure, she doesn’t run the country, but she is just as important, if not more so, than the prime minister.”

 “Who’s that?”

 “Not something I want to explain. Partially because I don’t know much, and partially because there is too much to explain. But, long story short, he’s like the public relations dude, who also acts as the head of the council.”

 Before Noctis and Prompto could ask any more questions, we arrived at the rock platform. I was apprehensive to approach it. The glowing runes freaked me out. I asked Ignis what they were.

 “Formations like these appeared all over Lucis long ago. They are imbued with runes that keep the demons at bay. It is commonly believed that the Six created them for travellers who could not find a safe place to rest before dark.”

 “Who are the Six?”

 “The Six are the Gods and Goddesses who created our world. But that is a story for another time.”

 I stood at the edge of the glowing rock, wary of the strange light.

 “Unless you’re gonna stand there all night, I suggest you get over here.”

 I glared at Gladio. He was really getting on my nerves. How did the others even put up with him? I walked past them to sit on the far end of the rock, staring out into the darkness. I took out my phone. It still worked, which was weird. I tried texting my mom, but the error message said I was out of range. I sighed, my small hope gone. I opened my pictures and scrolled through. Most of them were of various people and things on the ranch. My friends and I horseback riding, my sister feeding a calf. I stopped on one which stood out to me. It was the first time I got my testosterone shot. Panic gripped me. I didn’t have my vials and needles with me. I didn’t have to have them on me at all times; I only got a shot every three weeks. But I was already a week and a half in my last shot. My body could do some weird shit if I didn’t get my shot in time. I could even get really sick. I felt tears prick my eyes again, but I swallowed them down. I just had to get out of here as fast as I could. I kept scrolling through until I saw a large shadow stretch from behind me. I turned and looked up. It was Ignis.

 “Need something, Ignis?”

 “I think I could ask you the same.”

 “Nah. I’m fine. Just homesick.”

 He sat down beside me, crossing his legs in front of him,

 “This can’t be easy for you. To be ripped away from your entire universe, everything you know.”

 “You’re preaching to the choir. You know, being away from my family isn’t even the worst thing about this. I could always get back to them and if I got lost, I always knew generally where I was. Here, I’m literally worlds away with no known way of getting home, and I have no idea where I am. I don’t know the land or the people. I’m literally an alien. If I had a way to get home, this wouldn’t suck half as bad.”

 He didn’t reply for a while. After a few moments, he said,

 “We shall find you a way to get home. There was a way for you to get here, which means you can get back. I believe there is most likely a reason you are here and I’d like to know why, but our priority is getting you home. In the meantime, you will have to learn to trust us and follow our lead.”

 “I’m not following that asshole anywhere.”

 “Gladio tends to come off as.. Harsh. But give him time. Once you prove yourself, he will warm up to you.”

 “I don’t have to prove myself to anyone.”

 “You will have to prove your trustworthiness. I personally do not have any grievances, and I don’t think Prompto or Noct do.”

 “Hmm, I wonder who’s left.”

 “As I said, once you prove yourself, he will become less cold.”

 “I don’t want to be here long enough for that.”

 “I hope you are not, but it will not do you harm to try to get along with Gladiolus.”

 “ _That’s_ his name? _Gladiolus_?”

 “Yes. Though Gladio is less of a mouthful.”

 “He’s named after a flower.”

 “I’d imagine he wouldn’t appreciate you sharing that knowledge.”

 “That sucks.”

 “Is there any reason you are not partial to his name?”

 “Gladiolus is my favourite flower. He is not my favourite person. Do you see my problem?”

 “Well, perhaps you can try to imagine him as a flower.”

 “Yeah. A giant, angry flower that will probably kill me. Sounds reasonable.”

 He sighed, giving up on the argument and starting towards the fire. He looked over his shoulder at me before walking off.

 “Don’t attempt to leave. The night crawls with terrors. You will not last long.”

 His point was emphasized by a conveniently timed howl. I nodded, swallowing a lump of fear in my throat. I took one last look at the pitch black horizon, then I stood up, moving closer to the fire. I positioned myself a few feet behind Prompto and Ignis. The friends stared at me, but I crossed my arms and tensed, making it clear I didn’t want to talk. They continued with their conversation. I looked around at each of them. They seemed a lot more relaxed. I was surprised to see Gladio smile, and he even laughed. Their lightheartedness must have rubbed off on me, because I felt my body loosen. My arms eventually got tired, so I rested my hands in my lap. Later on in the night, they fell asleep. I briefly considered trying to sneak away, but I remembered what Ignis had said, so I decided against it. I looked around at the resting men, and I didn’t feel comfortable sleeping with strangers so near. I crawled into the alcove where I had hidden before, curling up as tight as I could. After a few moments of restless thoughts, I drifted to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have no proper knowledge of English political history, so at least 90% of what is said about it is probably bullshit. Queen Elizabeth is still the shit, tho. I may be American, but she is the best queen. I mean, the woman has a bajillion corgis. How can you not love someone who has a bajillion corgis? Anyways, yeah. Don't use this for your history homework. You'll fail.


	2. Who Does He Think He Is?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is basically a fight scene throughout the whole thing. The reader and Gladio fight a bunch, but I promise they won't always hate each other. Also, chocobos are awesome. And Prompto needs to ask Cindy out already, Holy Six.

In the morning, I woke to the sound of raised voices. The four men seemed agitated. I listened in before crawling from my small cave.

 “He ran off! How dumb is that kid?”

 "Gladio, calm yourself. If he has any sense, and I know he does, he hid the first chance he got. He can’t be far.”

 "But it doesn’t change the fact that he left.”

 Noctis seemed to be calmer than Gladio, but his voice had a bit of a waver to it. I couldn’t tell why, though. When Gladio started insulting my intelligence, I crawled out of my temporary resting place.

 “Good morning. How did y’all sleep?”

 I was greeted with blank stares.

 “No. I didn’t run off. Contrary to popular belief,” I shot a menacing glare to Gladio, ”I do have sense enough to know that running off at night in a place I don’t know will most likely get me killed.”

 “Gladio, I think you owe the kid something.”

 He turned to Noctis. I couldn’t quite see his face, but I doubted he was happy to hear that. He turned back towards me.

 “I’m sorry. You’re not as dumb as I thought you were.”

 He mumbled something under his breath. I didn’t hear it, but I could make assumptions.

 “What was that?”

 “What was what?”

 “If you’re too scared to say it to my face, then don’t say it at all.”

 “Fine. I said, you’re still pretty stupid.”

 That set me off. I jumped at him, knocking him to the ground. I landed a few blows before he threw me off and jumped up. I followed suit, taking a fighting stance. Ignis seemed to be keeping his promise, as he wasn’t interfering. In the back of my mind, I knew that I was only proving him right by trying to fight him. But something else was yelling at me to beat his smug ass to a pulp. I decided to listen to the latter. I faked a few jabs, just to see how he would react. He only fell for it twice. I had to admit, he wasn’t bad. I finally got impatient, and I tried for a left hook. He twisted, my fist sliding off his torso. He took advantage of my imbalance and my momentum. He grabbed my arm, swinging me around and throwing me into the ground. He tried to hit my face, but I rolled, his hand hitting the rock. It must have hurt, because he let out a loud grunt. While he was distracted by the pain, I kicked him in the side, rolling him over onto his stomach. I grabbed his arm, forcing it behind him and up. In that position, most would have tapped out, but nooo, not Mr. Tough Guy. He used his other hand to push himself over, trapping me under his back. I still had a grip on his arm though, so I pushed it up farther, and twisted it. He rolled over again, making his arm come to his side. My only leverage gone, I quickly got up, backing away before he could land a blow. I could probably only take a few hits from him; I doubted he would pull his punches just because I was smaller. I had to get in close, but that meant risking a straight blow to my head. For a split second, I got distracted by a growl in the distance. Gladio jumped on the opportunity, and pulled me to the ground, putting me in the same position I had put him in. For a big guy, he moved fast. He pulled my arm up behind my head. I refused to give up. That was, until my shoulder popped out of its socket. I yelled, the pain blinding me for a few seconds. I slammed my hand on the ground twice, signalling my resignation. I rolled over, holding my shoulder and grinding my teeth. My arm had moved back about three inches when my shoulder did, making it look like someone had reattached my limb off kilter. I felt for the back of it, and where the socket was. Ignis started towards me, but I waved him off. I mentally counted to three and I shoved it back in. I snarled, the relocation almost as bad as the initial injury. I rolled it a few times before standing up. Ignis, Prompto, and Noctis all glared daggers at Gladio.

 “He said he isn’t a kid, so I didn’t fight him like a kid.”

 I saw Prompto open his mouth, probably to tell him off, but I raised my hand, stopping him.

 “No, he’s right. I made a threat I couldn’t back up, and he called my bluff. I faced the consequences of my actions. You can’t get angry with him for doing what I asked him, which was to fight me.”

 I held out my hand to Gladio. It took him a second to realise I wanted to shake hands. He hesitantly took it. I looked him straight in the eye and nodded. Turning back to the others, I glanced at the fields in front of us. It seemed to be about eight or nine in the morning.

 “Well, now that you two have finished your unnecessary scuffle, we should continue on.”

 He looked to Noctis who pulled what looked like a dog whistle from his pocket. When he blew it, the creatures that showed up were not dogs. They looked like giant chickens, but prettier. They were still strange, though.

 “What the actual fuck are those chicken things?”

 Prompto gave me a look of utter indignation.

 “These aren’t chickens! They’re chocobos, and they’re the best things to walk this land.”

 I stared at the yellow birds. They had saddles on their backs, which meant..

 “Wait, you _ride_ these things? Haven’t you heard of horses?”

 “No idea what horses are, but yeah, people ride chocobos.”

 “Do they fly?”

 “Eh, it’s more of a long glide. Chocobos’ wings aren’t big enough to let them fly, but they can sort of flap to get higher up.”

 With that, everyone mounted their chocobos. I gave them weird looks.

 “That’s okay, I’ll walk.”

I started off, but I was quickly lifted into a saddle. I looked behind me. It was Gladio. My face must have told him how I felt.

 “This guy’s the only one big enough to carry two people.”

 “I swear to every deity that is listening, if I fall off, you will be the one with a dislocated shoulder.”

 “Don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

 I scoffed, turning around and facing forward.

 “Stop huffing. You’re not going to fall off.”

 “I’m not sure I trust you to actively make sure I don’t.”

 “Unless you want to fall off a giant bird running about twenty miles an hour, I suggest you try to.”

 “Whatever.”

 I still didn’t trust him, but I did not feel like eating dirt again. I hesitantly reached out, touching the bird’s neck. It was much softer than I expected, almost like down. The bird turned its head to look at me. It tilted its head, and I copied it. This went on till it had done a one eighty, and I almost fell out of the saddle. I giggled, and the bird seemed amused. I swear I felt Gladio’s chest quickly rise and fall with a huff of laughter. Before I could turn to look, he spurred the bird on. I yelped, gripping the saddle horn as if my life depended on it. I had ridden horses plenty of times, but riding something with two legs and a weird gait is much different. I slowly felt myself sliding to the left, and I tried adjusting, but it just made me fall faster. Just when I was sure it was all over, I felt an arm wrap around my torso, pulling me back up and holding me in place. I huffed, turning to glare at my ‘rescuer’ but a small jump from the chocobo had me grabbing his arm with an iron grip. I rolled my eyes at my own indignation, and I resigned to lightly holding onto Gladio’s arm the rest of the ride.

 It took about thirty minutes to get to the town. By the time we arrived, my thighs were bruised from the bumpiness of the ride. I jumped down from the saddle, stumbling a little bit, as my legs were practically jello. I stretched, and they cooperated better. I looked up at the chocobo, which was about a head and a half taller than me. We repeated our earlier head rotations, but this time, I managed to tilt my body enough to match its gaze. I stood up before I could lose my balance. Tentatively, I reached towards the bird’s beak. It pushed its head against my hand, and I smiled big. I stroked its top feathers, joy radiating from my entire body. The chocobo reminded me of my own horse back home.

 “Hey, Y/N, let’s go.”

 “Okay, be there in a second.”

 I turned back to the chocobo. It started off towards its friends. I waved goodbye, and it replied with a squawk. I laughed for the first time since arriving. I heard Prompto call me, and I headed over to where the others were standing around a car. Upon further inspection, I decided it wasn’t a car. It was a chariot of the gods.

 “Holy shit, this car must have been made from the remains of a fucking galaxy or some shit.”

 “Not exactly.”

 “Its pretty sweet though!”

 Prompto high fived me, and we got playful glares from the others. Noctis was talking with a girl who was barely covered by her clothing.

 “That’s Cindy. She’s a mechanic.”

 Prompto said that as if a mechanic was the best job in the world.

 “Ooh, someone’s got it bad.”

 He shoved me, but he didn’t deny it. Noctis joined us to relay what Cindy had said.

 “The Regalia’s going to need some serious work. That goblin really screwed up the engine.”

 “I told you we shouldn’t have driven at night.”

 “Even you couldn’t have predicted a goblin materializing in our engine, Iggy.”

 “No, but it wouldn’t have happened, had we stayed in Galdin Quay for the night.”

 Noctis rolled his eyes. I raised my hand.

 “Uhm, quick question. The hell is a goblin?”

 “It’s basically a troll the size of a house cat that nibbles your ankles and steals your socks. Your typical troublemaker.”

 “And one went kamikaze and got shredded in your engine?”

 “Yeah.”

 “Gross.”

 “Picking chunks of goblin from the engine was not an ideal way to spend time.”

 “So, what happens now?”

 “Well, we usually just hang around, maybe pick up a quick job or a hunt.”

 “Ooh, a hunt?”

 “Nothing like you’re thinking of. The monsters we hunt would eat you up and still be starving.”

 I snarled at Gladio.

 “I’m sure they’d rather go for a bigger, salty piece of meat like you.”

 “Nah, they like the soft ones.”

 “Then I guess you’re the main course.”

 I started tensing up, about to throw a punch when Ignis stepped in.

 “Y/N, we have already established that you are no match for Gladio. I’d rather not cause a scene here.”

 “Yeah, I’m not much of a match when my arm’s out of its socket. But when he’s on the ground, I’m sure the tables are turned.”

 “You got lucky.”

 “It ain’t luck when you’re on the ground for more than a minute.”

 “Y/N! Gladio! That is enough. You will end your incessant arguing this minute. I’ve half a mind to tie you together until you can get along.”

 I immediately stepped away from the larger man.

 “I can barely stand being within five feet of him. I’m not getting any closer than necessary.”

 “As dumb as he is, I agree with the kid.”

 “Fuck off. I’m smarter than you, you fucking jock.”

 “Not smart enough to know when to shut up.”

 “And apparently, neither are you. I knew you had to be compensating for something with all that muscle. Although I can’t decide if it’s your intelligence, your dick, or your ego!! Hell, it’s probably all three!!”

 “For someone claiming to be smarter than me, you come up with some terrible insults.”

 “It’s not an insult if it’s the truth.”

 I barely moved out of the way in time to avoid a hit to my nose. I quickly kicked the back of his knee, shoving him down to the ground. Before I could take advantage of it, Gladio had leapt up, pushing me to the ground. He had me pinned, and he landed a blow to the left side of my face and my right shoulder before Ignis and Noctis pulled him off. I jumped up, ready to lunge, but I was held back by Prompto.

 “Let me go! I gotta teach that egotistical bastard some fucking manners!!”

 “Funny coming from a crazy homeless bitch!”

 That angered me enough to allow me to wrench out of Prompto’s grasp and tackle Gladio to the ground. I pounded into his face, my anger pouring out as I yelled at him between each punch.

 “You! Don’t! Know! Me!!”

 After about seven hits, it took all three of the others to get me off of Gladio and away from him. I shoved them off, storming away towards the empty plains. I faintly heard Prompto yelling at me to come back, but I took off running. My feet carried me away as tears fell with each step. Gladio had called me a bitch. Did that mean he knew? He couldn’t have. There was no way. But if he did.. Why didn’t he say anything? No. There was no way he could have known. I heard pounding steps coming up behind me in the distance. I looked back to see two chocobos speeding towards me. I took a sharp left, leaping over a tall rock and huddling down on the other side. The birds and their riders jumped over, and continued running on. I quickly ran back around the rock, dashing the opposite direction. As I looked back to make sure they weren’t following me, my front was grazed by another speeding chocobo. I flew back a few feet, landing on my back. I struggled to get air in my lungs. I pounded my chest, forcing my lungs to collapse. When they reinflated, I felt air rush in. I gasped, bolting up and coughing. I heard the pounding feet get closer, but I was in no shape to run. I just painfully stood up, waiting for whoever it was. It was Noctis. I sighed, bowing my head in shame. He didn’t say anything, he just held out a hand to help me up on the saddle. I took it, and we rode in silence back to Hammerhead.


	3. Coming Out Sucks, Especially in a New World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reader is put in a situation where they must come out to the Chocobros. It sucks, but it brings the reader and Gladio closer. There is mention of death of a loved one in this chapter, just as a warning. Happy news, though. Mother hen Iggy makes an appearance. :)

We crashed in an old RV, where Ignis checked out Gladio and I’s injuries. My shoulder was bruised, but otherwise fine, and I had a cut on my cheek. Gladio was not as fortunate. His nose was bleeding, and he had a black eye. I couldn’t help but smirk. He started to get up, but Ignis pushed him back down. Ignis turned to glare at me. I rolled my eyes, but I forced my face to neutral. When we were given the all clear, Ignis called Prompto and Noctis over. The way they sat around felt like a drug intervention.

 “Y/N, Gladio. This behaviour cannot continue like this. It is not good for either of you or the group. As much as I’m sure you both hate it, Y/N, you will most likely be here a while. _You will have to learn to get along._ I didn’t want to do this, but you have left me no choice. This method works with children, and seeing as that is how you are acting, this is how we will discipline this behaviour.”

 Before either of us could protest, we were handcuffed together. My first instinct was to jerk away hard, but that proved to be painful. I huffed, giving Ignis a look of bewilderment.

 “Really? After what happened not two hours ago?”

 “Unless you wish to remain like that, I suggest you figure out something.”

 “What about privacy?”

 “You are both intelligent individuals. You will find a way.”

 I panicked. I couldn’t risk them finding out. I wasn’t sure how they felt about that in this world, or if it even existed.

 “No, I don’t think you understand-”

 “I think it is you who doesn’t understand. Until you two can behave like civilized humans, you will remain chained together.”

 I tried my hardest to make Ignis understand with a look. He took it as a plead to untie us. I tried telling him again, with an obvious hint in my voice.

 “Ignis, I **_can’t_** stay like this.”

 “And why is that?”

 “I...I-” I sighed. “Get me a pen and paper. I don’t want to say it out loud.”

 There were curious and confused looks passed around, but Noctis retrieved a pen and paper like I asked. I took the pen in my left hand, the one that wasn’t cuffed, and I wrote down the basics, making sure to cover it so no one else could see. I pushed it towards him. He picked it up, and as he read it, his eyebrows crept higher and higher on his forehead. I buried my head in my arm.

 “I see. Well, perhaps there can be an exception.”

 I got questioning looks from the others. I ignored Gladio’s and nodded to the paper for the other two. Ignis handed it to them, and their eyes widened, but they nodded in understanding.

 “During bathroom times or changing, you will be allowed to be untied. But that is it.”

 “Thank you.”

 I put as much sincerity and gratitude into those two words as I could. He just nodded, but I knew he understood.

 “Am I missing something?”

 I turned to my fellow prisoner.

 “Yes, and you will continue to be in the dark until I feel comfortable otherwise.”

 “What, are you like, gay?”

 My eyes widened and a blush crept on my cheeks.

 “Well, there’s that, but one, that’s not the reason, two, I’m not attracted to guys old enough to be my father or guys who are douchebags.”

 “I’m 26.”

 “Close enough. Still, don’t worry, I’ll be sure to make an exception to my sexuality for you. Hope you feel special, little snowflake.”

 His jaw clenched, but he didn’t seem to know how to respond. I didn’t want to argue any further. The fighting had drained me of my energy. I felt a surge of panic when I realised we would be sleeping close. That couldn’t happen, but I didn’t want to make anything any weirder than it already was. I would just have to leave my binder on at night. It could cause all sorts of health problems, but at the time, it seemed better than Gladio knowing.

 When we were turned in for the night, I slept in the clothes I wore that day, as they were the only clothes I had. Gladio and I worked out a solution to the sleeping problem. We both laid on the ground, but we had a wall of pillows and blankets between us. Looking back, it was pretty childish and petty, but I hated that man’s guts. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it, but something about him irritated me. The weirdest part was that sometimes he would do something, just a little thing, but my chest would collapse with overwhelming sadness and grief. I always managed to keep it under wraps, but it was definitely confusing. After about two weeks of being cuffed together and fighting it, we tried to make Ignis think we were fine. He wasn’t convinced, of course. He refused to untie us until we were at least civil to each other. Apparently throwing death glares and showing each other the finger isn’t civil.

 

* * *

 

 

After about seven weeks of being in wherever I was, cuffed to Gladio, my testosterone shot wore off. It lasted longer than I expected, but I could feel it start to gradually die down. I was going to have to do something about it soon, but I couldn’t tell anyone. Although I had become close with the other three, I still couldn’t tell them about that part of my life. Sure, they knew I was trans, but they didn’t know about the hormones. If I didn’t do something pretty quick, I could get really sick. I was already feeling more fatigued. I’d been on estrogen blockers and T long enough to where my body stopped producing estrogen, even without the blockers. That meant once the shot wore completely off, I wouldn’t have any hormones in my body. Hormones are a vital part of every body system. Without them, a lot could go wrong. One night, when Gladio and I were untied during showers, I bucked up and told Prompto. He and I were closest, so I felt comfortable telling him most everything. This was way harder though. When I finished answering his questions, he explained there were people like that in Lucis too. A lot of them. The medicine was also way more advanced. I sat on the third bed in the hotel room as Prompto explained everything to Ignis and Noctis. Gladio came out in the middle of their conversation, drying his hair with a towel. Prompto stopped talking and looked to Ignis. Ignis came over to me, speaking softly so Gladio wouldn’t hear.

 “Y/N, why didn’t you tell us before?”

 “I guess I was hoping I would get back before it wore off. Now that I know I’m gonna be here a while, I had to tell you. It’s better you find out now rather than when I collapse and the hospital tells you.”

 “You will have to tell Gladio at some point.”

 My heart skipped a beat at that. Gladio and I weren’t at each other’s throats constantly, but we still weren’t on the best of terms. It was still bad enough that Ignis didn’t think we’d learned our lesson. Secretly, I was terrified of the man. He could kill me easily if he wanted to. Trusting him with such sensitive information would basically be giving him the weapon to kill me with.

 “Ignis, I can’t.”

 "You must.”

 “Ignis, that man terrifies me. I can’t trust him with that part of me. I barely trust him to not break my hand pulling on the cuffs.”

 “As harsh as he is towards you, Gladio wouldn’t do anything to intentionally harm you.”

 “Ignis. Do you remember why we’re cuffed in the first place?”

 “I do believe you have moved past that. Now, to the matter at hand. You do not naturally produce hormones anymore?”

 “No. The blockers helped with that.”

 “We will have to find someone who specializes in this. I’m sure Prompto explained it to you, but the hormone treatments here are different from your world. Here, you are given a slow release capsule that resides under your skin. It usually lasts about a year. I’m not sure how it works exactly, but it is the exact same as your shots, except you don’t have to inject it every couple of weeks.”

 “Does it hurt?”

 “Well, it is a foreign object under your skin. Your body will react accordingly. It will be reacting to the fact that there is something under your skin, though. It won’t reject the capsule itself.”

 “How?”

 “Each capsule is suited to that person’s body. It is formulated so the body will treat it as part of you.”

 “Wow. That’s way more advanced than anything we have.”

 “Yes, I’m sure. We shall find out more in the morning. For now, get some sleep. You may sleep separate from Gladio tonight.”

 I attacked him in a hug. He seemed surprised at first, but he returned the hug.

 “Thank you, Iggy- I mean, Ignis.”

 “I think you’ve earned the right to call me that.”

 I felt my chest expand with happiness.

 “Uhm, guys? I hate to break up the moment, but Gladio’s looking at you weird.”

 Prompto whispered to us. I glanced over at Gladio, who had a very suspicious look on his face. I had a thought, but it terrified me. I needed Gladio to trust me though.

 “Iggy, I think I’m gonna tell Gladio. If I want him to trust me, I have to trust him. I think trusting him with that information might let him know I don’t hate him as much as I used to.”

 “Are you sure?”

 “Yeah. If I don’t do it now, I don’t think I ever will.”

 “Alright. Do you want us to sit by you when you tell him?”

 “No. That’ll make him think I don’t trust him without you guys there. I gotta tell him by myself.”

 I stood up, heading over to the couch, where Gladio was stretched out, playing on his phone. He noticed me coming over, and moved his feet. That was probably a good sign.

 “Uhm, hey Gladio?”

 “What?”

 The harsh tone in his voice made me flinch, but I kept my resolve.

 “There’s something I need to tell you. And it’s really important, so I need you to listen.”

 I must have interested him, because he put down his phone and sat up.

 “Okay. So, you know that night when I told Ignis we can’t be cuffed at all times? And when I wrote down why on some paper so you couldn’t see?”

 “My face remembers.”

 I tried hard to not make a snarky remark.

 “Well, the reason is.. I-I wasn’t always a-a dude.”

 “What?”

 “I was born as a girl, but when I was 12, I knew that I was actually supposed to be a boy. I’m kinda stuck in the wrong body. And, well, I still have the body of a girl, and that’s why we can’t be tied together at all times.”

 “So are you a dude or a girl?”

 “I’m a guy, just not physically.”

 “Well if you say you’re a guy, then you’re a guy.”

 I saw something click in his mind.

 “Is that why you freaked out when I called you a bitch?”

 “Yeah. That’s why. I thought you somehow figured it out, and well, your tone made it seem like it wasn’t something you liked. Also, the homeless part didn’t help either. That kinda hurt, too. But, hey, guys tough it out, right?”

 For a split second, I saw sympathy on his face. It quickly disappeared, however.

 “Yeah. We do, but it’s okay to have emotion, you know. Men are still human.”

 I nodded, looking down at the floor as I thought about how everyone at home reacted when I came out. Most everyone was pretty supportive. There were a couple of family members and friends who denied it, but for the most part, I was safe. I felt my chest tighten with grief as I remembered how my older brother had reacted. He’d been so happy for me. For two years, he’d taken me out to find all this guy stuff. He helped me convince mom to let me start hormone treatment. But it was because of his support of me that he died. We’d been walking to a trans guy meeting when a subaru came out of nowhere at a crosswalk. My brother had grabbed me and turned his body so his back took the brunt of the force. I woke up in the hospital six days later to be told that he’d died from internal bleeding. His spine broke in half and punctured both lungs and a kidney. I came out of my recollection when I felt several tears fall on my hand.  I blinked, I didn’t realise I had started to cry. I quickly wiped the tears away, disguising it as getting something out of my eye. Gladio was definitely not convinced. I don’t know why, but he did the kindest he’d done for the entire seven weeks. He put a hand on my shoulder. It seems simple, but when you’re constantly fighting with someone, a simple gesture can mean a lot.

 “Hey, you good?”

 “Yeah. I’m good. Just, miss home, that’s all.”

 “Nah, it’s something else.”

 “I realised why I kept resenting you this long. You remind me of my brother. He was my biggest supporter. He died when we were walking home and a car hit us. He’d used his body as a shield to protect me. Six days later, when I woke up, mom told me his spine had broken on impact, piercing both his lungs and one kidney. He died protecting me, and I hate myself and him for it. I guess I was channelling that onto you without realising it. I’m sorry.”

 “We’ll get you home, Y/N. You just gotta hold on a little longer.”

 I nodded silently, a knot forming in my throat. I knew that if I spoke, it would come out as a sob. I managed to choke out one word.

 “Thanks.”

 I stood up, walking to the patio area of our hotel room. I leaned on the concrete railing, the cold wind biting my cheeks. When I was sure I was alone, I let out the sobs. I was crying for a lot of reasons. I hadn’t ever grieved for my brother. I was alone in a world I didn’t know and didn’t belong in. I felt like shit for being a dick to Gladio for something he couldn’t help.By now, my mom would have been home for about six weeks. I wasn’t sure how time passed here, but if it passed the same as in my world, she would be home with my sister now. They’d be worrying themselves to death, wondering where I am and if I’m alive. I had no way to tell them I’m okay. I didn’t even know if I had a way to get home.


	4. Pancakes With a Side of Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is one of the chapters that has mentions of suicide attempts, loss of family and depression. In this chapter, the reader reveals their scars and fresh cuts to Gladio. Please, if any of this is triggering, don't read this chapter. I will post warnings like this on every chapter that warrants it. It's also kinda (very) cheesy. Gladio is a bit out of character, but I feel like he would show a softer side for someone like the reader. Again, this fiction is all platonic. Please take that into consideration as you read this chapter. As always, comments and criticism are welcome!

I must have cried myself to sleep, because I woke up slumped against the railing. My throat was raw from crying and my eyes were probably bloodshot. I stood up, making sure I was at least slightly presentable before going back into the room. Everyone was still asleep. I checked the clock on the microwave. It read 4:55. I shook my head. No use trying to go back to sleep. I opened the well stocked pantry, grabbing the ingredients for pancakes. I waited until 5:30 to start, in case they were light sleepers and woke up to the sound of cooking. I tried to mix the batter as quietly as I could. I seperated it into five separate bowls. I coloured each one a different colour. They were purple, green, blue, orange, and red. I first made our names from each. I made mine from the purple, Ignis in green, Prompto in blue, Noctis in orange, and Gladio in red. I decided to write out Gladiolus, just cause it seemed right. I made art from different shades of each colour. I had learned how to make pancake art in 10th grade, so I put it to good use. In purple, I made the nordic rune Tyraz, for warrior. In green, I made a book covered in words of different languages. In blue, I made a chocobo. In orange, I made a willow tree. In red, I made a Gladiolus flower. I used the rest of the batter to make rainbow pancakes. I was done by 6:20, and by then, the others were starting to wake up. I plated the breakfast, quickly throwing together a fruit salad. I put a pot of coffee on, and waited for the guys. Prompto was first to notice the pancakes.

 “Dude, you can do pancake drawings?! Holy Six, this chocobo looks amazing!”

 Ignis, Gladio, and Noctis were quickly roused by Prompto’s yelling. Their groggy minds took a bit to process what was in front of them. To avoid any uncomfortable stares or conversation, I slowly made myself coffee, my back turned to them.

 “Hey, Y/N.”

 “Yeah, Noct?”

 “This is pretty awesome. Thanks.”

 I kept my back turned, but I replied cheerfully.

 “Of course. Felt like it’d be a good start to thanking you guys for helping me, and you know, not killing me.”

 I eventually had to turn around when I made my coffee. I sat down on the other side of the bar, starting on my pancakes. I took my phone out of my pocket out of habit, but when I looked at the screen, I remembered I didn’t have inter-universe service. I sighed, placing it face down. When we’d all finished, Noct, Ignis and Prompto cleaned up, refusing to let me help. When I gave up arguing, I sat down on the couch, closing my eyes. I could almost imagine I was back home, my parents in the kitchen fixing up my cooking mess. I was brought back to reality when I felt the couch dip beside me. I opened my eyes to look at the man next to me.

“Good morning, Gladio.”

 “Why the flower?”

 “Okay, before you get all macho on me, it’s called a Gladiolus, so I figured it would be cool. Also, it was kind of a peace offering. Gladiolus are my favourite flower. I have a whole garden back home.”

 “How’d you know my name?”

“Ignis told me the night y’all found me. I told him it sucked, because I like Gladiolus and, you know, your name is Gladiolus. It was kinda funny, cause he told me not to mention that you shared a name with my favourite flower. I thought it was funny that such a tough guy had a flower for a name. But, you know, you’re kind of like them in a way.”

“How so?”

“Well, you’re resilient as fuck, and you don’t need a lot to survive. You know, Gladiolus petals are the nastiest tasting things in the world. They’re bitter and the taste sticks with you. But when you open them up, and you get to the heart of the flower, it’s sweeter than the sweetest honey. I guess you’re alike in that way too. You’re all tough and bitter on the outside, but if someone takes the time to get to your heart, you’re not as bad as you seem.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“We’ve been chained together for seven weeks. I notice things. You act all cold and harsh towards me, but with your friends, you light up, and you seem happy. You care for them, and they’re in your heart.”

“And what about you? Whose heart are you in?”

“Honestly? Most of the time, it feels like I’m not in anyone’s. I know that people love me, but something deep inside of me tells me it’s all fake. Even if it was ever real, it will never last. I’ll lose everyone I love, and I can’t do anything about it. Now, I guess that’s kinda true. I’ve lost everyone I love, and I can’t do anything about it.”

I sighed, trying to relieve the weight in my chest.

“Sorry. Sometimes, I start talking, and I can’t stop. It’s whatever, though. I shouldn’t worry about things I can’t control.”

I felt Gladio’s hand on my arm. He flipped it over, pulling my sleeve up to reveal lines of scars. And two rows of fresh wounds.

“And can you control this?”

I ripped my arm away.

“How’d you know?”

“The handcuffs aren’t that tight.”

I kept my voice low, so the others couldn’t hear.

“Yes. I can control it. I can control how deep I cut and how many I make. I can’t control when I feel like doing it though. I can’t control why. It’s what I do to cope. It’s what I’ve done since I started feeling alone. I don’t drink, I rarely fight, I don’t do drugs. I cut. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. I’m just one of the unlucky ones who discovered it.”

“And you’ve done it since you’ve been here.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Yes, that’s kind of obvious.”

“And you didn’t go to the others.”

“No. I didn’t even want to tell them about what I am. I started to trust them eventually, but by then it was too late. I’d already gotten a tool, and I was ashamed. It’s why I started taking a bit longer in the bathroom, and why I always have my sleeves down. It’s why medical supplies go missing here and there.”

I absentmindedly rubbed a large scar. It was across the inside of my wrist. It was about three inches long, and very thick. It had several scarred dots where I had stitches. I had about thirty other large scars, though not quite as large as that one, and between 200 and 300 smaller scars littered across the insides of my forearms and all along my biceps. I said as much to Gladio, watching his face go from stoic to almost horrified. I hung my head in shame. The only people who knew about my scars were my dad, my mom, and my brother. 

“Why wouldn’t you tell anyone?”

“I don’t know how, why, or when, but somewhere in my life, I drilled it into my own head that everyone else comes before me. If I tell anyone my problems, I will be burdening them. Of course, that doesn’t apply to others. I take on their worries and fears. I bury my own so far within myself, that when they resurface, I don’t even remember what they are. I just know that I’m feeling what I would have felt if I had dealt with it then, only a lot worse. It doesn’t matter how many people tell me that I’m allowed to take care of myself and that I’m allowed to ask for help. I know they’re right, but this belief is so ingrained in me that I don’t even notice it. I want to ask for help, I want to scream it from the mountains, but something deep inside me won’t let me. ‘You don’t deserve it’, it says. ‘Just kill yourself. They’ll be happier without you.’ ‘You’ll just be a burden. You’ll tear your family apart with your stupid problems.’  I’m terrified of losing my family. They’re my whole world. I know it hurts them to see me in so much pain, but I can’t help it. Sometimes, I really think I should end it. I tried a couple of times, but it never worked. Each time, I just act as if it was a fluke. Just a quick, fleeting attempt. I paint on a smile, and I go about my day. I.. I just want to let someone help me. I want someone to know how bad it really is. I want to tell someone that I’m not okay. I’m far from it. I guess that’s what I’m doing right now. So, I guess I’ll say it. No. I’m not okay. I’m not as tough as I pretend to be. My walls might be standing strong and high, but inside, I’m falling to pieces. I want to be happy again. I haven’t felt happiness in a long time. At least, not real happiness. Sure, I laugh at funny jokes, or I’ll smile at my dog because I love him, but it’s all over in a flash, and the dark cloud comes back. I just want to be happy.”

I felt the tears coming as soon as I finished my rant, but I wasn’t fast enough to stop them. They came in a thundering wave, overtaking me with all the emotions I’d ever repressed. I tried to stop; I didn’t want to cry in front of Gladio, but I couldn’t. I managed to get up, and start to walk away from the couch, but I was jerked back. I fell into an embrace from Gladio. In the back of my mind, I felt weird for sitting on his lap, crying my eyes out into his chest, but that feeling was silenced by my tears. He didn’t say anything. He just held me tightly, comforting me. I barely registered the others checking on us. I think Gladio might have said something. Whatever it was, they left. I cried for a long time. I felt the grief for my brother. I felt the guilt of how my cuts had hurt my family. I felt the loneliness of all the times I had cried alone. I felt everything all at once. If I had experienced that alone, I wouldn’t have been able to handle it. I would have found a way to end it that worked. Thankfully, I wasn’t alone. Looking back, it’s kind of ironic that the man I wanted to kill only weeks earlier was the one who stayed with me and comforted me.


	5. Chocobo Chicks and Giant Needles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is much more lighthearted, except for the almost paragraph of cussing from the reader. The chocobros take the reader to see the chocobo farm. Later in the day, Ignis takes the reader to see a doctor about hormones.

I woke up stretched out on the couch on top of Gladio, who was still sleeping. I wasn’t going to be able to move without waking him up, so I just laid there thinking. I dozed off again, waking up when Gladio stirred. I tried adjusting slightly, and I fell off the couch.

“FUCK!”

I heard the others run in from outside. I looked up at them from the floor. 

“It’s all good, guys. I just fell off the couch.”

Ignis stared at the both of us, then he seemed to understand.

“I’m glad you have finally worked out your differences. Now, Y/N. There is a specialist near here. We’ve scheduled an appointment with him for you at 3:00.”

“Oh my God, really? You-you didn’t have to do that!”

“Your health is important to us.”

I jumped up to hug Ignis, making noises of delight. 

“Ohmygosh, thank you Iggy!”

“Yes, yes, alright. Now, I suppose while we wait for three o'clock to come around, we should explore.”

“Guys, the chocobo farm isn’t far from here! We should totally visit the little chick!”

Noctis and Gladio seemed on board. Ignis looked like he would need some persuading. 

“Ignis, y’all have a baby chocobo??”

“Well, we actually only rescued it. It is currently in the care of Wiz, the chocobo farmer.”

My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“ _ You rescued a baby chocobo?  _ Please, can we go see it?”

With all of our pleading stares combined, we managed to sway Ignis. Prompto and I high fived, receiving a disapproving glare from Ignis. Once outside, Noctis called the chocobos. I laughed when Gladio’s dashed up to him, almost knocking him over. 

“Yeah, good to see you too.”

He helped me up then hopped on. I enjoyed the ride much more now that I wasn’t fuming. The chocobo’s gait still felt weird, but I was getting used to it. We flew down the highway, hitting speeds a horse couldn’t even dream about. I was laughing and yelling the whole time. When the chocobo decided to jump from a tall rock and swiftly glide down, I did not enjoy it.

“Oh my God. Holy shit, we’re gonna fucking die. This is it, I’m never gonna see seventeen. Oh shit!”

We almost face planted into the ground when the chocobo whipped its wings out to slow our descent. 

“Oh my God! We almost died! Why the fuck do they do that? They have fucking death wishes!”

“You’re fine.”

“A horse would never pull that bullshit.”

As we trotted up to the group, I could feel the surprised stares.

“What? I almost fucking died back there!”

“I have never heard such foul language from a child. Or an adult for that matter.”

“You try almost face planting into the ground on a kamikaze chocobo and  _ not  _ cursing like that.”

“Kid, I think you’re gonna give Iggy a heart attack.”

“What? He’s only like, thirty at most.”

Prompto slowed down to trot next to us.

“He isn’t used to curse words being used so freely. None of us are really.”

“Well, I wasn’t raised in a castle. I have the manners of a ranch hand. That is to say, I’m polite when I feel it’s necessary. Otherwise, my cursing could make a sailor blush.”

I got more stares.

“Okay, fine. Except in extremely dangerous situations, I will limit my cursing.”

“Thank you. Prompto, look ahead. We’re here.”

We were coming up on what looked like a typical farm, you know, except for the giant birds. We dismounted as Prompto talked to an older man.

“Hey, Y/N! This is Wiz.”

“Hi. I’m Y/N. Nice to meet you.”

“Well, hi there! Prompto here tells me you’re here to see the chocobo chick.”

“Yessir.”

“Oh, please, just call me Wiz. No need for formalities.”

“O-okay.”

“Right this way, gentlemen.”

I subtly beamed at that phrase. We followed Wiz to a small pile of hay in the stables. On it, sat a really fluffy black chick. It was fucking adorable.

“Holy shhiii-Uhm, I mean.. my gosh, it’s cute.”

The chick cocked its head at me before chirping several times. It was fucking adorable. 

“What’s its name?”

“We decided Jemima would fit her best.”

I laughed.

“That it does. Hello, Jemima. My name’s Y/N.”

The chick flapped its way into my lap, staring up at me.

“Hey, Y/N, I think she likes you!”

“Never woulda guessed, Prom.”

I stroked her head between her eyes, eliciting a sort of rumbling chirp. 

While I played with my new friend, the others walked about, occasionally stopping to talk to strangers about the recent events of the farm. Apparently, there were races people could enter to win medals for their Chocobos. Eventually, Ignis said we had to leave, as it was nearing three. Jemima and I were both saddened by this, but we said our goodbyes. I hopped onto Gladio’s chocobo and we headed back to Galdin Quay.

When we reached Galdin Quay, Noctis, Prompto, and Gladio stayed behind at the hotel while Ignis took me to the doctor’s office. I felt extremely nervous. I was going to see a strange doctor in a world I knew very little about. I suddenly realised something.

“Iggy, I don’t have any medical records. They won’t know a thing about me or my medical history.”

“Not to worry. In clinics such as this, the only information they need is any allergies to medication, your blood type, and how long it has been since your last injection.”

“Really? Is that safe?”

“Yes. Remember, we have extremely advanced technology. Also, it ensures discretion, should a patient wish to keep their visits anonymous. They are put in the system as anonymous, and they are given an identification code. When they return, they only have to provide some sort of documentation of their code.”

“Wow. Where I come from, it’s a lot more complicated than that. Sometimes, you could wait up to a year to get in somewhere like this.”

“How long did it take you?”

“We had good connections, so it only took me about three months to get an appointment. Most of the time, they give you about a three month supply of the hormones so you can inject them at home. You only go back when you need more, or if you have any problems.”

“Hmm.”

We entered the office, the bell ringing to announce our arrival. I stood back while Ignis checked us in. For about fifteen minutes, I nervously bounced my leg, my body tense while we waited, When the nurse called my name, I just about jumped out of my skin. She took my blood and asked about any allergies I had and when my last injection was. I told her I didn’t have any, and that it had been about seven to eight weeks. She took us to a room, where we waited another thirty minutes for the doctor. When he finally came in, I noticed he already had the capsule thing. I leaned over to whisper to Ignis.

“Its that fast?”

“Yes. Your blood is placed in a machine, which measures the amount of testosterone in your system. It compares it to the level an average cisgender male would have, and it creates a slow release capsule that keeps your levels where they should be for a little over a year.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I wrote a few research essays in my junior year of college on subjects such as this.”

The doctor turned to me, holding out his hand. I shook it as he introduced himself.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Mavous. I’ll be walking you through this procedure today.”

I just nodded, too anxious to speak. 

“Now, what I’ll be doing is I’ll be placing this capsule under the skin on the inside of your elbow. It is relatively painless, though you will most likely experience irritation of the skin for a few days after. This first capsule will last for three years, just to get your body used to it without having to change it too often. After that, you will have to come in annually.”

I watched as he placed the capsule in a large needle. My eyes widened in fear.

“Don’t worry. This needle is only so I don’t have to make any incisions that will take a while to heal and to make a place for the capsule. It is only going just under the skin.”

“Okay.”

I turned away as he wiped the skin with an alcohol pad and placed the needle near my skin. With a count of three, he pushed it in and placed the capsule. It stung like a bitch, but not for very long. I forced myself to look where he had placed the capsule. I could only see a small blue dot.

“That dot is so we know exactly where the capsule is when it comes time to extract it.”

After he scribbled some notes on a few papers, he released us. The whole way back to the hotel, I was staring at the blue dot under my skin. 


	6. The Whole World Comes Crashing Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seven months later, the reader is finally able to go home. Unfortunately, there is barely any home to return to. This chapter has a suicide attempt in it, and familial loss, so if this is triggering, please don't read it. I promise, things will get more lighthearted in future chapters. Cor even makes an appearance.

“Now, we will go through with you, just to make sure you are in the right place. Once we are satisfied you are safe, we will leave.”

“IIIIIIIggggyyyyy, I’ll be fine!”

“Humour me.”

“Fine.”

I took a deep breath before stepping through the portal with my friends. I felt a big smile on my face as we reached the other side. It immediately fell when I saw my home. My field was reduced to ashes, the skeletons of my livestock scattered about. My house, my home, was barely standing. As far as I could see, everything was dead and burned. I took off towards my house, ignoring the others’ calls after me. I yelled for my family until my voice broke. I picked up a newspaper that was half burnt. The front page read  **_Nuclear Fallout has Ravaged Russia and Eastern Europe. Citizens Advised to Prepare for the Worst._ ** I threw it across what used to be the dining room as the others ran up behind me. I yelled some more, my voice cracking with grief and overuse. I searched the house. I opened the door to the basement, a sickening stench hitting my nose. I used my phone as a flashlight, making my way down. What I saw at the bottom horrified me. It was my family’s bodies, not quite skeletons, their leathery skin hanging off their bones. I screamed and screamed, dropping to my knees with a blood curdling wail. Prompto had to drag me away from them. Ignis came with us back to the portal, looking forlorn. Gladio half carried me back to the portal, with me screaming and sobbing the whole way. We came out on the other side at the camping site. Ignis ordered the others to step away as I threw myself on the ground, still wailing in unfathomable grief. I didn’t stop until I fell asleep. I continued crying when I woke up. This went on for weeks. I only ate when food was forced in my mouth. I only slept when I couldn’t stay awake. I had no idea how worried my friends were about me. One night, I couldn’t take it anymore. I waited until they were asleep, and I took a knife from the hotel kitchen. I left a note saying I loved them so much, but I couldn’t live without my family. I asked them to remember me, but to not blame themselves. I snuck out to the patio, where I slit my wrists open with a strange sense of calm. I sent a silent prayer to the six to send me to my home’s afterlife, so I could be with my family. After about five minutes, I was already feeling lightheaded from blood loss. That was when I heard a bed creak as someone got up. I felt a surge of panic, causing my heart to beat faster, which made the blood flow more heavily. When I heard Gladio moving towards the door, I started crying. He would have to watch me die. I waited for the inevitable. Gladio came out onto the porch. He asked me what I was doing out here this late. He saw the glint of the knife. He saw the tears on my face. He saw the pools of blood. He yelled. Stomps came from the other beds. I just curled into a ball when Gladio picked me up carrying me to the bathroom. I think I passed out when I saw how deep the cuts were. When I woke up, I was lying in a hospital bed. I opened my eyes to see Ignis, Prompto, Noct, and Gladio standing around the room. Prompto was asleep in a chair. Noct and Iggy were quietly talking in the corner. Gladio was pacing back and forth, nervous energy coming off him in waves. 

“Guys?”

All their heads turned to me. Noctis woke Prompto up, and he leaped up, hugging me pretty tight. 

“Oh my Six, Y/N! You scared the shit out of us!”

“Yeah, what the hell were you thinking?! 

Before I could respond, Ignis scolded Gladio.

“Gladiolus! Now is not the time to be scolding Y/N! There is no need to make him feel worse.”

“Yeah, I understand. I’m sorry. I was just... really hoping it would work this time. H-how long was I out?”

 “A few days. You lost about three pints of blood before we could get you here.”

I couldn’t help it. I broke down into tears again. It had only been five weeks since I lost my family. But I hadn’t just lost my family. I had lost my entire world, literally. 

“Ignis, you said there must have been a reason I was brought here. Well, I think that was it. I guess I was supposed to survive the nuclear war.”

“There is no reason to worry about that at this moment. You need your rest.”

“No, Iggy. I need my family.”

“Well, you’re stuck with us. So you’re just gonna have to deal with it.”

“Gladio, what is your problem? I have lost my entire world, literally! I have lost all of my family and friends. I lost my dogs, I lost my home. I have  **_nothing!!_ ** My worst fear finally came true. Whatever deity rules over all the universes can go fuck itself, because I’m pretty damn sure it knew that I was absolutely terrified of losing my family, and it went ahead and made me live while my family suffered in a basement for a month. They slowly succumbed to the fucking radiation. My dogs were alone as they died after them. And all the while, they had no idea where the hell I was. Shit, they probably thought I was dead like my brother! But no. I’m the one who has to live with their deaths. So until you experience all of that, you can shut your goddamn mouth, you absolute fucking asshole!!”

Gladio looked like he was about to say something smart, but he just stormed out of the room. 

“Y/N, I know this is hard, more than I can comprehend, but this had also been hard on us. We’ve come to care for you as a family member, and as such, it hurts to see you in such pain. It seems to have hit Gladio especially hard. When the doctor told us you might not make it, he left. When we found him, he was in the alleyway, crying. He was crying for you. He will deny it, but it’s true.”

“That doesn’t give him the right to say that stuff.”

“Yes, that is true, but you know how he is. He doesn’t show concern in the kindest of ways.”

 I changed the subject, not wanting to talk about Gladio anymore.

“When can I leave?”

“You’ll be able to come with us later tonight. They want to make sure you are stable.”

“In what ways?”

Ignis didn’t answer.

“Yeah. Got it.”

“Hey, Y/N?”

“Yeah, Noct?”

“Why’d you do it?”

His question surprised me. Nonetheless, I answered it.

“I didn’t think I could live without my family. I sure as hell don’t want to, but apparently I’m not destined to die yet, so I gotta keep on keepin’ on. I just wish I could have said goodbye. I can’t get the image of their bodies out of my head. I just wish I could have saved them.”

“You were meant to be here,  _ alive,  _ for a reason. Try to think of it as sending a big fuck you to the universe. It tried to beat you down, but you’re still here. Keep trying to spite it.”

“I’ll try.”

The doctor seemed pretty satisfied with my condition, so she let me leave around seven that night. I was kind of drugged up, so the guys had to help me to the Regalia. Gladio was waiting for us, leaning against the car, his arms folded. I tried to catch his gaze, but he wouldn’t look at me. I sat in between Gladio and Noctis in the back, trying not to fall asleep. I would occasionally catch myself almost dozing, so I shook it off. I must have failed, because I woke up when Noctis lightly shook me. 

“Hey, come on. We’re at the RV.”

I groggily got out of the car, immediately claiming one of the recliners in the RV. I curled up and fell asleep as soon as I closed my eyes. 


	7. One of the Guys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of just a filler chapter. No major events happen, just the reader and the chocobros bonding. Also, I'm very sorry for not updating. I honestly have no excuse, I was just majorly procrastinating.

I shot up, my body covered in a cold sweat. I looked around. I was still in the RV. I’d had another nightmare. I checked the time on the microwave clock. It was only 1 in the morning. I could hear the guys chatting outside. I stood up, opening the door and joining them. 

“Y/N, shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“Can’t.”

I took a chair, laying my head on the table.

“You don’t look so good. You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, Prompto. Just a bad dream. Nothing serious.”

I regretted those words when I saw the concerned looks.

“It’s nothing. Everyone has them.”

“I think we all know that you aren’t having just ‘bad dreams’.”

“Yeah. We’ve heard you whimpering and crying. You’re not exactly a quiet sleeper.”

“Whatever. I’m going back to sleep. Good night.”

I slammed the door to the RV shut, curling back up on the recliner. I heard someone slowly open the door, so I turned my back to it.

“Hey.”

I turned my head to look at the intruder. It was Prompto.

“What, Prom?”

“I’m kinda worried about you. You seem kinda on edge.”

“I lost my whole world five weeks ago. I tried to kill myself three days ago. I think I’m allowed to be a bit on edge.”

“You just don’t usually snap like that, especially at Ignis. You know we’re here for you.”

“I know, and I appreciate it. I just wish my family was here too.”

The door swung open again with a creak, the RV rocking slightly with the sudden addition of weight. I saw Gladio out of the corner of my eye. I felt a mix of emotions. First was anger, remembering how he had scolded me for basically feeling any sort of sadness about my family’s death. Then I felt guilt. I had a close relationship with all of the guys, but he and I had a different relationship. I knew it had cut him deeper than I could ever comprehend when I tried to end my life. Then I wanted to cry, because I wanted to apologize, but my pride, as broken as I was, was still strong enough to fight me on that. Gladio looked at Prompto and jerked his head towards the door, signalling him to leave. Prompto hesitated, looking at me for the okay. I nodded slightly. With a worried glance at me and a suspicious glare at Gladio, he left the RV. I kept my head down, focusing on not letting my tears fall. I felt him kneel in front of me. I could feel his intense stare in my soul. The tears fell, landing on the worn leather of the recliner. More took their place, and those fell too. Soon, tears were streaming down my face, but I tried my hardest to not make a sound. My shoulder shook with each ragged breath I took, but I still refused to look up. I wondered what his expression was, though. I wondered if his brows were furrowed, his lips set in a snarl, signalling anger. Or maybe his expression was soft, full of concern. Or perhaps it was blank, no emotion bleeding through the stone wall he built. I didn’t know which one I hated most, but I had to know. I looked up, and I saw none of those things, and all of them at the same time. His brows were furrowed, but his eyes were teary. His mouth was set in a tight line, but it held a resemblance to a frown, not a snarl. His body was tense, but otherwise gave away nothing. His deep brown eyes quickly scanned mine, searching for any hints of what was lying deep within my heart. I tried to speak, but the lump in my throat prevented it. After a few tried, I croaked out two words.

“I’m sorry.”

I felt his arms around me in a second, squeezing me almost to the point where I couldn’t breathe. I accidentally slid off the chair onto the floor, but he didn’t let go. I held onto his shirt as I cried. I cried for a while. At least two hours. I think the others might have come in at one point, but they must have seen me and left. When I couldn’t produce any more tears, my body still shook with the force of my sobs. When I was too tired to sob, I just shook. And when I stopped shaking, I realised I felt lighter. Not completely, but noticeably. Gladio never left, and he never loosened his grip. With him as my anchor to reality, I was able to acknowledge past events, process them, and grieve for them. I was able to finally stop burying my despair, and I let it rear its ugly head in my mind. In those sad two hours, whenever I thought I would lose myself in my anguish, I held tighter to Gladio, reminding myself that I was alive, and for a reason. I always knew I had to go on, but now I knew how. I slowly stood up, going to the sink to wash my face. I looked at myself hard in the mirror. My once short, crimson dyed hair was now shaggy with brown showing at the roots. My normally round face had slimmed, my cheekbones showing under my skin. My eyes had almost no light in them. But there  was some there. I took that knowledge and held onto it, exiting the RV.

“Hey, I’m gonna go for a ride. Y’all can come if you want, but I ain’t talking.”

I pulled out a whistle similar to Noct’s, and my own chocobo came running up to me. She was white with brown and grey specks. I had named her Ailé, french for winged. I know, great name for a bird. I heard Noctis blow his whistle, and the other chocobos came towards the men. Secretly, I was glad they were coming. I didn’t lie when I said I didn’t want to talk, but I didn’t want to be alone. We rode for what felt like hours, not really going anywhere. Sometimes we galloped, sometimes we trotted. When I was feeling brave, I let Ailé glide off of a small rock outcropping. We encountered the occasional demon, but we just ran past. We returned to the RV just as dawn broke over the horizon. Ignis allowed us to crash for a few hours, which we were eternally grateful for. I woke when I felt the RV move suddenly. I latched onto the recliner, my eyes snapping open. Noctis and Gladio were wrestling on the ground. Gladio obviously had the upper hand. I walked over, harshly nudging them with my foot.

“You are going to cause an earthquake if you move this RV anymore than you are now.”

They rolled their eyes, but separated, Gladio slapping Noct on the back. I rolled my eyes, heading to the bathroom to brush my teeth. When I came back out, everyone had left. There was a box with a note on it saying, “Put this on and come outside.”

I was suspicious, but I opened the box. I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was a Kingsglaive uniform! I stood there for a few seconds, unable to believe my eyes. When I finally snapped to, I took the box to the bathroom, carefully changing, so as not to damage the outfit. It fit perfectly. I looked at myself in the mirror, and my jaw dropped. I looked like a badass. Not only that, but I could not be mistaken for a girl at all. I felt a bit ridiculous when I started to tear up. I picked the box back up when I heard something rattle inside. I opened it back up, and I saw two large daggers. The handles were engraved with all the guys’ names, and mine on the blades. I gingerly held them, as if they would shatter if I moved it wrong. They had sheathes as well, which I attached to my pants. In a sort of dazed trance, I walked out, expecting to see the guys. I didn’t see anyone. I felt a rush of wind, and I pulled out one of the daggers, holding the tip to someone’s stomach. It was Noctis. He grinned.

“Nice. You’re not hopeless after all.”

I laughed, sheathing the dagger. I was suddenly lifted from behind.

“Gladio, you big doof! Put me down!”

He let me down.

“You look awesome, kid.”

I beamed, the praise and the gift warming my heart immensely. I whirled around when I heard running footsteps. There was no one there. I shrugged, turning back around. I jumped about five feet in the air when Ignis suddenly appeared in front of me.

“Jesus, Mary, Joseph and all the angels above, Iggy!!”

He just chuckled, stepping back to look at me.

“Well, thank the Six for size tags.”

“Guys, this is.. I…”

I lifted my arms and made my inability to express gratitude clear through a series of facial expressions and strange noises.

“Well, we figured if you’re gonna hang with us, you gotta look like us.”

“I can’t.. awkward.. I mean, I can’t eng- uh -speak.. I mean.. Thank you.”

“Anything for a friend.”

“He’s more than a friend. He’s our annoying kid brother.”

“Fight me, right here, right now. 1v1 me, scrub.”

“You know you can’t win.”

I playfully tackled Gladio, missing ridiculously slow punches. When he “gave in” I let him up.

“Got ya, noob.”

“Sure. Whatever you say.”

“Alright, you two. Y/N, why don’t you go change into some more comfortable clothes. We’re taking the Regalia today, and it’s going to be a long drive.”

I headed back in, carefully placing the uniform and daggers back in the box. I slipped on some looser fitting jeans, my binder, a t-shirt, and a light sweater. When Ignis pulled the Regalia up, I put the box in the trunk, then squeezed in between Gladio and Noctis in the backseat. We spent a fair bit of the ride talking about absolutely nothing relevant. Ignis rolled the top down at some point, and I tried climbing up and sitting on the back of my seat. Gladio pulled me back down.

“Hell no.”

“Aw, come on. Noctis gets to do it.”

“Noct is an adult who will suffer the consequences if he falls off. You will sit your ass back down and put your seatbelt on.”

“Ugh, you’re no fun.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“Is too.”

“Since when?”

“Since you won’t let me feel the wind in my shaggy hair and my growing beard.”

“What, you mean your patches of stubble?”

“Excuse you. It is a full face of stubble, and it will grow.” I mumbled, “Unlike someone’s.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“You said mine won’t grow?”

“Maybe.”

“You need to get your glasses fixed, kid. Do you not see the forest on my face?”

“It looks pretty sparse to me.”

“Alright, that’s it.”

He wrapped me in a headlock, holding me down while he rubbed his knuckles on my scalp.

“Oi! My hair is currency in some places! Get your greasy monkey paws off it!”

“Whose beard is better?”

“Yours! Jeez!”

He let me up, and I fixed my hair, fixing him with a halfhearted death glare. I unbuckled, scooting to the other side of the seat.

“Y/N, that’s my seat.”

“Nah, man. I ain’t letting my hair get ruined again.”

“Whatever.” Noctis just scooted along the edge carefully, his feet resting in the middle seat.

“Finally, some leg room.”

Gladio stretched out, putting his feet in my lap.

“Excuse you, sir. I am not an ottoman. Remove your feet from my lap before I remove them from your ankles.”

He replied by scooting down further. Fine. Two can play at that game. I slid onto the floor of the backseat, laying on my back in the middle, and plopping my feet kind of hard down on Gladio’s middle. I heard him grunt, but other wise, he didn’t move. I moved my feet over a bit, kicking off my shoes onto the floor next to me and returning my feet to their previous position. I was actually kind of comfortable, and I started to fall asleep. Until I felt someone moving my feet. I looked up to see Gladio reaching for my foot. I waited to see what he was doing, but I realised too late. He grabbed my foot, tickling it to death.

“Gladio! No!”

Normally, I would have thrashed like a fish on a dock, but he had a good grip on my legs, holding me still. I was laughing and giggling uncontrollably. He finally stopped when I started to turn red from laughing. I was still laughing a bit when I snorted. Noctis, Prompto and Gladio turned to look at me. I covered my mouth, my face turning bright red. Gladio burst out laughing. Noctis and Prompto followed suit. I even heard Ignis laughing softly.

“Holy Six, that was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen you do!”

I glared daggers at Noct.

“I am not cute. I am evil incarnate and I will teach you a lesson in humility if you don’t cease your laughter.”

“Kid, he’s right. That was fucking adorable.”

“I will harm you severely, mister.”

“Gladio, make him do it again.”

“Prompto, no.” I turned my feet away from Gladio, but he grabbed them again, eliciting another round of giggles from me. I tried holding it in, but I couldn’t help it. I snorted several times. I also squealed. All manly squeals, of course. 

“Oh my gosh! Gladio, please, I can’t breathe!”

He let me go, and I was still giggling while catching my breath.

“Well, I must say, I never expected that from you, Y/N.”

“Listen here, mister. You shush or I will hide your stash of Ebony.”

“Ooh, Iggy. You gonna take that?”

“You will do no such thing.”

“Don’t tempt me, Iggy. I might even drink it all myself.”

“We’ll see.”

“Oh, Y/N, you’re in for it.”

“Hush, Prom. I got dirt on you too, mister ‘she’s a mechanic’.”

He turned bright red.

“Love ya, Prompto.”

I tried getting back into the seat, but I found I couldn’t. I had managed to wedge myself between the backseat and the middle of the front.

“Uhm, hey, Gladio? Can I get some help?”

“What?”

“Well, you see, funny story. I’m kind of stuck.”

I could see the mischief in his eyes.

“Don’t you start with me. It’s your fault I’m in this position. If you hadn’t touched my feet, I wouldn’t have thrashed around and wedged myself in here.”

I watched in horror as he took his phone out and took a picture.

“I will make you regret that for the rest of your life.”

“And I’ll ground you.”

I stared at him with indignation.

“You can’t do that! I am sixteen years old! I do what I want!”

“Technically, I can. We’re your legal guardians, meaning we have disciplinary power.”

I glared at him.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

“Whatever. Will you  _ please _ help me up?”

“Fine.”

He pulled my legs up, allowing me straighten my back and use my core muscles to pull myself up. My head landed in his lap. I looked up at him with an innocent smile.

“Hey, how ya doin’? How’s your day going?”

“Great. It’ll be even better when you have to set up camp.”

“Fuck.”

“Y/N…”

“Sorry, Iggy.”

I sat up.

“How much longer?”

“We’ll stop and make camp soon. There’s a haven just up ahead.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“No more than three hours.”

“Ugh.”

I laid my head on the back of my seat. Noctis climbed down, leaning his head on the side of his seat. I closed my eyes, not meaning to fall asleep. Half asleep, I felt myself slide down until I was resting on Gladio’s lap again. He didn’t seem to mind, so I just pulled my feet up, careful not to disturb Noct. I fell asleep with the sound of the road in my ears.


	8. Scary Stories and Amazing Drawings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another filler chapter. Not a lot of actual 'story' will be happening till the later chapters, but I already have at least the next eight chapters written out, so we should get there. Hope you enjoy the chocobros and reader. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so there is a pretty gory story later in the chapter, so if you know that might trigger you, it's okay to skip over it, as it doesn't really add much to the story or chapter. I just put it in there because it's a really good story. Also, Noctis is a bitch to wake up. Oh, and please tell me if I spelt anything wrong. Some things I tried looking up, like Mesminir, but I couldn't find anything, so I just spelt it as best I could.
> 
> P.S. If you'd like the recipe for the soup, I'd be happy to give it to you

When I felt someone moving my feet, I immediately snapped up, and immediately slammed my head into the top of the car. 

“Oowww! Holy mother of everything above, that smarts!”

“Well, guess you’re awake.”

I looked at Noct, who had moved my feet off of him so he could get out of the car.

“Well, when you are traumatized from someone tickling your feet and you feel someone moving them, it tends to bring you to attention.”

I gingerly touched my forehead. I was gonna feel that in the morning. I climbed out of the car after Noctis, following them to the haven. After I helped to set up camp, Ignis approached me.

“Y/N, I have something to ask of you.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“How would you feel about making dinner tonight?”

I saw the other's’ heads shoot up.

“Iggy, think about what you’re doing.” Noct warned.

“Oh, come on guys. I make amazing pancakes, and you know it.”

“Prompto can make good pancakes, too.”

Prompto whipped around to glare at Gladio. “Hey!”

Ignis shushed them.

“I believe he can make an adequate meal, right?”

“You can count on me!”

I heard collective groans from the other guys.

“Shut up, or I just might let some mesminir dung slip into your food.”

They all went back to what they were doing. I decided on making my personal favourite from back home. It brought back some bittersweet memories, but I wanted to share it with my friends.

“Hey, Iggy. I’m gonna need potatoes, milk, flour, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano, and cheese.”

“Got it.”

I opened the chest of utensils, pulling out a whisk, measuring utensils, a pot, and a ladle. Iggy brought the ingredients over.

“Do you mind if I watch?”

“Sure, just don’t touch anything, or I’ll whack ya with the ladle.”

“I’ll make sure to avoid that.”

I set to work on making the roux for my soup, adding the flour and milk and simmering it. I got Prompto to wash and peel the potatoes before putting them in the pot with some salted water to boil. I talked with Ignis about this and that while I stirred the roux, adding more milk and spices and eyeing the potatoes. He seemed surprised at my extensive knowledge of cooking and baking.

“Well you see, I had a grandmother who practically lived with me. She started teaching me everything she knew since I could see the top of the stove. She hovered a lot, which was annoying, but she was a great teacher. This was one of the things we made whenever I was having a depressed day, or when I was sick. It was simple enough that we could talk about what was bothering me while we cooked, or we could just cook in silence. I loved my mom, but she and I had a special relationship.”

“Just your mother?”

“Uhm, yeah. My dad, well. The easiest way to explain his personality is to tell you his reaction when my mom told him she was pregnant.”

“What did he do?”

“He said, and I quote, ‘Well, I’m not marrying you.’ He wasn’t there for my birth, he didn’t sign my birth certificate. The only time I ever saw him was every other weekend and the occasional holiday. If the court hadn’t mandated that, I’m not sure he would have done that even. He broke up with my mom about a month after she got pregnant, and married another woman. His mother was a terrible woman. From the time I could understand her, she was always telling me how I was fat, and I was gonna die when I was thirty.”

“My Six.”

“When I was eleven, I was spending Christmas Eve at her house with my dad, his brother, her and my half sister, Diane. She laid into me that night. She said my mom was going to die before she was forty because she was fat and she smoked. She said I have no friends because I’m fat and that if I don’t lose about fifty pounds, and I was only a hundred and ten, I was gonna die, again, when I was thirty. My dad didn’t even do anything to stop her, and I left her house that night with my heart and my self-esteem in pieces. I’ve finally been able to attribute quite a bit of my low self worth to her abuse. The only good people on my dad’s side of the family were his dad and stepmom. I never talked to anyone on his side of the family after that night except for them. They really loved me. When I came out to them as trans, they said I’ll still be their baby, and they will always love me the same, whether I’m their granddaughter or grandson.”

I teared up a bit at the thought of never seeing them again. I perked up when I remembered I had about 10 terabytes of pictures on a few sim cards. My mom had bought a pack of about fifty, because she knew I loved taking pictures. I still had them with me. I took one out and put it in my phone, showing Iggy some pictures.

“That’s us at a restaurant after I came out to my paternal grandparents. It was honestly one of the happiest moments of my life. Oh, that’s Hannah when I taught her how to use a slingshot. That’s me with a black eye, regretting teaching her how to use a slingshot.”

I put my phone away when the potatoes were done boiling. I broke them up into pieces, adding them into the now finished soup. I sprinkled some cheese in, stirring it to melt it some.

“Oi! Come get your pois- I mean food!”

I cleaned up while Prompto, Noctis, and Gladio hesitantly tried the soup. I couldn’t help snickering when they obviously liked it.

“So, how dead are you?”

“Okay, okay. It’s not horrible.”

I smiled, grabbing myself a bowl, and sitting down at the fire. I had an idea, and I grinned mischievously

“Hey, who wants to hear a scary story?”

Prompto’s hand shot up.

“Me!”

I looked around at the others, who shrugged and agreed. I set my bowl down, cracking my knuckles, and starting.

“This story begins with a case gone cold. The Drescott family had been abducted from their home, traces of carbon monoxide found in their sheets. They had been gassed and snatched from their home. The chief of police, Tom Kieston, was personally investigating. For months, there were no leads, and the Drescott family’s bodies were never found. The case went unsolved. Twenty years later, Tom Kieston had retired, and was living a fairly decent life. But it all changed when a reporter by the name of Christine Danek came to him with what she claimed to be confession from the killer. Something she believed could solve the Drescott case. Tom was skeptical, but this was the case that had nagged him for the rest of his career. He couldn’t pass this up, however unlikely it was. He met her at a diner, where she produced an envelope. It contained a letter.  _ I didn’t kill the Drescott family. They were just taking too long to get ready for breakfast.  _ Tom mentally facepalmed. Two months after the family’s disappearance, they had received a breakfast menu with the pancakes circled and a note written beside it.  _ They’re not dead. They’re just getting ready for breakfast. _ There was a picture of an old facility attached to the letter. Christine informed Tom that she had tracked it down through searching the town’s archives. They met later that day at the facility. It was in good condition, considering its age. It had been a steel factory in the early 1900s. There was a strange smell in the air, which Tom and Christine dismissed as fumes from the sewage plant nearby. Once inside however, it was clear the stench wasn’t sewage. It was rotting flesh. Tom insisted Christine wait outside, but she refused to let him go alone. He gave up, allowing her to come with him. They explored the building, trying to ignore the stench. They came upon a section of the building which looked to have been remodeled. There were five rooms. Each had a hospital bed, an IV drip, and an eight foot by five foot hydraulic press hovering ominously over each bed. It became ever clearer what had happened to the Drescott family. There was a sudden gasp heard from downstairs. Tom jumped. He told Christine to stay behind, and she willingly obeyed this time. Tom turned on his flashlight, heading down the stairs. He entered a room which looked to have been hand dug. When he shined his light in the middle of the room, his heart stopped in horror. There was the Drescott family, stacked on top of each other, no higher than two feet. Each person couldn’t have been more than four inches thick. He hoped for their sake they had been long dead. He was proven wrong when the person on top, who had once been Avery Drescott, made a horrible screeching noise, incapable of normal speech. Tom reassured him that he was not his tormentor, that he was a former police officer, and there to help. Though his every fiber screamed at him to run, he took a closer look. Avery’s face was a mangled mess, teeth protruding through his skin, his nose having been crushed to oblivion long ago. The Drescott family’s tormentor had slowly crushed them over the last twenty years. They had been crushed that way so that their bodies would have time to adjust. The terrible person who had done this had kept them alive with IV drips. This is what they had meant by ‘getting ready for breakfast.’ The Drescott family  _ were  _ the pancakes. Avery made a request of Tom. He asked Tom to tell his family he was alright, and that he was just living far away. It was then that Tom realised none of the Drescott family knew they were there together. They all lived in hopes that the rest of their family was safe out in the world, maybe coming to rescue them. It was then that Christine came down, saying she heard Tom scream. He didn’t remember doing such a thing but then again, he had a hard time believing any of this was real. Before he could stop her, Christine made a horrible, terrible mistake.

‘That’s all of them isn’t it? That’s the whole Drescott family.’

When the family heard this, they wailed and screamed. But because they were so deformed, it was as if the gates of Hell had opened, and Tom was hearing the souls of the damned. He took out his pistol, shooting them all through the head with one bullet, but he emptied three more just to make sure they weren’t suffering anymore. He dashed out of there, calling the department. Later, in an interview where he had to recall the terrible events of that day, Tom mentioned how horrified Christine was. He told the interviewer she couldn’t even scream or cry. The interviewer gave Tom a weird look, asking if he was sure that was her name. He said yes, that she had claimed to work at the Daily Globe. The interviewer told Tom that there was no one at the Daily Globe by the name of Christine Danek.”

I leaned back, ending my story. I looked around at the horrified faces of my friends.

“I regret saying yes.”

I laughed.

“What? You wanted a scary story, Prom. I gave it to you.”

Even Gladio looked a bit unsettled.

“Where the hell did you get that story?”

“I used to terrify myself by searching scary stories on the internet at night. They were great, but I swear, I never left my closet door open again.”

Ignis cleared his throat.

“Well, on that delightful note, we should turn in for the night.Y/N, Gladio, Prompto, you will be sharing one tent tonight. Noct and I will share another. Anyone volunteering for first watch?”

Prompto shot his hand up.

“No way I’m going to sleep right after that. Hell, I’ll take watch all night.”

“Nonsense.Y/N, you will take watch after Prompto. Noctis, you will take over for Ashton, then me, then Gladio. Understood?”

There were mumbles of agreement. Prompto took a seat by the fire, his pistol laid across his lap. I shook my head, heading into the tent I would be sharing. I pulled out a sketchpad and some pencils, starting on another drawing. Gladio came in, stretching out on the other side of the tent.

“Whatcha drawing now?”

“Nothing you need to worry about.”

Truth is, I had been drawing portraits of the guys for a couple of weeks now. I was planning to do two of each of them. One in their everyday outfits, one in their Kingsglaive uniforms. Each one took about five hours to complete, depending on the complexity. Once I managed to get some colored pencils, I was going to color them in and give the drawings to them. I’d finished both of Prompto and Noct’s, and I’d already done Ignis’ everyday portrait. Now I was working on finishing him in his Kingsglaive uniform. I was so engrossed in my drawing, that I didn’t notice Gladio watching me until his shoulder bumped mine.

“Hey! What the hell?”

"You’re pretty good.”

“Dude! You can’t just sneak up on someone like that!”

“What, embarrassed?”

“No. Y’all just weren’t supposed to know about them yet. They were gonna be a surprise. Now I’ve half a mind to not even do yours.”

“Huh, that’s weird. I’ve already forgotten what you were drawing. I’ll just go back over here.”

“Mmhmm. Well, since you’re in the loop now, think you could manage to scrounge up some colored pencils for me?”

“Yeah, Iris has got a bunch she doesn’t use anymore. Apparently she likes gardening more than her princess coloring books now.”

“Well, she is fifteen, Gladio.”

“Whatever. Anyways, what all have you drawn?”

“Well, for a while, I just drew whatever I felt like. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to do some portraits of you guys. Two for each of you. One in your everyday clothes, and one in your badass Kingsglaive uniforms. I just need to finish Ignis’, get yours drawn, and color them. And so help me, god if you tell the others about this, I will stab you with the entire rainbow.”

“Got it. No telling.”

“Good. Hey, I can’t remember. Does Ignis have laces or zippers on his uniform boots?”

“Laces.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“You mind if I look at the others?”

“Sure, just don’t smudge the shading.”

I took the other drawings out of their laminated sleeves and handed them to Gladio. He looked pretty impressed.

“Wow. These look almost real.”

“They’ll look better when they’re colored. I really prefer to do realism in color, but I can do it in black and grey if I have to.”

“Where’d you learn how to draw like this?”

“I hung out at a tattoo parlor my brother’s best friend worked at. I learned so quickly, he even had me doing some of his sketches. For my sixteenth birthday, my brother took me down and his friend gave me a free tattoo.”

“What’d you get?”

I put down my sketchpad and took off my sweater. I rolled my t-shirt sleeve up to reveal an intricate design on my shoulder. It was a ruby throated hummingbird hovering over a group of pink orchids. The script underneath said  _ Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see. _

“It’s a memorial to my great-grandmother. She and I were really close. She died when I was fourteen, twelve days after my birthday, and nine days before hers. She would have been 94.”

“Man, that sucks. Did it hurt?”

“Kind of. It took about two hours. I secretly got another one before that on my shoulder blade. It’s a blue and green dragonfly. I got it for my nawna, my mom’s best friend, and my other mother. Her entire family was basically my other family. I considered her husband my dad, and her two daughters and her son were my brother and sisters. She loves- loved- dragonflies, so I got one for her. I was gonna get my entire left arm covered in a sort of flower vine design for my eighteenth birthday.  The main thing was I needed to cover up my arms. There was a parlor in Australia that covered up self-harm scars for free, and I was gonna get my sleeve there. I hadn’t thought about what I was gonna get on my right arm.”

"You were gonna be all tatted up, huh?”

“Yeah. Nothing on my face or neck, but for the most part, yeah. I was mainly just gonna get both my arms covered and maybe a couple of chest pieces once I got rid of my ‘excess’ chest. What about yours?”

I gestured to the art on his arms.

“Just felt like it.”

I shrugged, and went back to shading my drawing. I looked up when I heard the tent unzip. It was Ignis. I quickly covered up my drawing, and Gladio did the same. Ignis gave us a suspicious look, but said nothing.

“Gladio, would you please join us outside?”

“Yeah.”

He stood up, following Ignis. I started to follow, but Ignis turned back to me.

“Not you. Stay here. Everything’s fine, just.. Stay here.”

I slowly sat down, my mind already racing with possible scenarios. I eventually brushed it off, and finished Ignis’ drawing. I started on Gladio’s first drawing when I heard a commotion outside. I took my switchblade out of a hole in my sleeping bag, and slowly climbed out of the tent. What I saw both scared and awed me. A red giant had appeared a few hundred feet from our camp, terrorizing the chocobos. And my friends were kicking its ass. The damn thing didn’t even have a chance. Prompto was chipping away at its armor with his pistols, Ignis was a murderous ballet dancer with his daggers. Noctis was basically fucking flying, stabbing the thing in its face. Gladio didn’t seem to give a fuck, battering it with his giant sword. I put my switchblade away, walking over to the squawking chocobos to calm them down. I lured them closer to the fire with some greens, gently petting them as I watched the fight. It only took them about fifteen minutes to bring it down, the demon dissolving into nothing. Prompto seemed hyped, yelling and whooping for the world to hear. They all threw their weapons into the air, the weapons vanishing instantly. I raised an eyebrow at Ignis as they returned.

“Everything’s fine?”

“We handled it.”

I shrugged.

“Okay. If you’re not concerned with a red giant appearing within a few hundred feet of a haven, I’m not.”

“Yes, I’ll admit, it is concerning, but it is just an isolated incident and it was a more powerful demon.”

I sighed, giving up. I went back to calmly talking to the chocobos. Prompto came over to check up on his.

“Is he okay?”

“Yeah. Just a bit freaked out, but food certainly helped him, the damn chunk. You spoil him too much”

“He’s not chunky! He’s just got a few extra pounds of feathers. And I do not spoil him.”

“Sure, Prom. Whatever you say.”

I turned to Ailè, stroking her beak, murmuring soft assurances to her. She was still a bit jittery, but she was calmer for the most part.

“Hey, Prom, go rest up. I’ll take my watch now.”

“Are you sure, Y/N?

“Yeah. You just fought a giant. Go get some sleep.”

“Alright. Thanks, Y/N.”

“No problem.”

I settled down among the chocobos, leaning back on Ailè. I realised I forgot my sketchbook and stuff in the tent. When I went to retrieve it, Gladio and Prompto were already asleep. I chuckled, taking my stuff outside. I listened for any trouble, but I mainly focused on my drawing. I’d decided to draw Gladio’s first portrait with him sitting by the fire, smiling at some joke or something. I sighed. These really would look better colored. When I’d finished the first quarter, I checked the time. I groaned. I’d stayed up an extra hour and a half. I would make sure Noct appreciated that. I closed my stuff up, walking over to Noct and Iggy’s tent. I knelt by Noctis, gently shaking his shoulder, whispering,

“Hey, Noctis. It’s your watch.”

He wouldn’t wake up.

“Oh, come on. Noct! You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I grabbed one end of his sleeping bag, slowly and carefully pulling him out to the campfire. I unzipped his sleeping bag and yanked it out from under him.

“What the- Y/N, what the hell?!”

“Your watch, Noctis. Wake up easier next time. Also, you’re lucky, you got an extra hour and a half.”

He sat up, staring me down. I stuck my tongue out at him, grabbing my stuff and returning to my tent. By then, I was exhausted, but there was a problem in the tent. Prompto and Gladio had spread out in such a way that I had no way of laying down comfortably. I internally screamed. I would definitely be having a talk with them in the morning. I set my stuff in the corner, maneuvering my sleeping bag to give myself as much room as possible. That said, I was still curled up in a tight ball. I was seriously considering moving them. Then a miracle happened. Prompto moved his legs towards the side of the tent. I thanked every deity above, and stretched my legs out. I took my phone out, turning on my music and putting in my headphones. Thank god for downloadable music. I fell asleep to Shinedown’s Simple Man blaring in my ears.


	9. First Kills Are Not Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader finally meets Cor. They don't like him, though, and storm off. That's where they meet and kill four voretooths. Wonderful, huh?

 “Hey, Y/N. Wake up. Come on, get up.”

I groaned, pulling the covers over my head.

“Gladiolus Amicitia, there’s no way you can convince me it’s seven yet.”

“It’s not. Now, get up and follow me.”

I heard him get out of the tent, so I rolled back over, dozing off again. I was jerked back to reality when I found myself being carried out of the tent. Gladio had his hand over my mouth to keep me from waking the others. I growled, squirming as hard as I could to make amy annoyance apparent.

“You better stop moving, or I will drop you right here.”

I stopped moving. He set me down in a clearing a few yards from the camp. The sun was barely coming up, the sky grey with the early morning light.

“You better have a damn good reason for waking me up _before_ the ass crack of dawn, or so help me god, I will make sure you never see the light of day again.”

Gladio didn’t look very threatened. I was so sure that would strike fear in his heart.

“Uh-huh. Anyways, you are gonna learn how to use these.”

He tossed me my daggers in their sheathes. I fumbled catching them. He ran his hand over his face.

“We’re off to a great start.”

I rolled my eyes, attaching the sheathes to my belt loops and unsheathing the daggers. Gladio was quick to stop me.

“No, no. No. You aren’t using those yet.”

“What? How the hell am I supposed to learn, then?”

He broke off some sticks of equal-ish size from a tree. He pulled a knife out of nowhere, shaping them more like daggers. The knife disappeared, and he tossed me two of the sticks. I caught them.

“Okay, great. Sticks. The hell do I have my daggers for?”

“When you’re fighting, those sheathes will still be there. You need to learn how to fight with them constantly flapping around everywhere. Having the daggers in the sheathes will weigh them down, making it a bit easier to move while you’re still learning.”

“Yay. So, no offense or anything, but isn’t Ignis the dagger dude?”

“You’ll see. Now, since you aren’t gonna be swinging these around like you would a sword, you don’t need to balance yourself as much with your stance. When you have a sword, you’re like a train, tearing your way through everything. With daggers, you’re like a bike, weaving through enemies. Keep that in mind. If you try to attack like you would with a sword, you will die. Staying in their range is the worst thing you can do. Get close. It’s hard to swing a sword at something that’s in your face.”

He came over to me, fixing my stance a bit, and adjusting my grip on the sticks.

“How you hold the daggers depends on how you’re fighting. If you can rip through enemies in record time, you’ll typically be slashing. It’s easier to slash with the tip of the blade pointing towards your elbow. But you won’t be breaking any time records anytime soon, so you’ll hold them with the tip towards the other person. You’re gonna have to be stabbing and slicing. When you get a little better, I’ll teach you how to do both.”

“You doubt my speed?”

He whipped around, disarming me in a matter of seconds.

“Yes. I do.”

“Coulda just told me.” I mumbled as I picked up my sticks.

He took a few steps back.

“Now, show me what you can do.”

I wasn’t expecting that.

“Uhm, I can’t? The only weapons experience I have is choreographed swordplay in theatre.”

“Figure something out.”

I was feeling a bit panicky. I literally knew nothing about actual weapons fighting. I tried to remember what I’d seen in movies, which wasn’t much. Marvel isn’t known for their master swordsmen. As soon as I took a hesitant stance, Gladio was on me. He was definitely slowing down for me, and I blocked as best I could, but I didn’t last very long. My sticks flew out of my hands after a few seconds. I sighed. We were gonna be there a while. Without a word to him, I retrieved my sticks, taking a stance again. This time, I was little more prepared, but I still had to stay on the defensive. I eventually just rolled away, jumping up a few feet away. I managed to attack for a few seconds while Gladio was confused, but soon I was back to defending. I lasted for about two minutes before he knocked my sticks away again.

“Better. Just make sure when you’re fighting several people, you don’t roll away and end up with someone behind you when you stand up.”

“Okay.”

We started again. I tried rolling again, but Gladio was ready for me. He was back on me in a flurry of slashes and stabs. I ducked and stepped on my own toes, falling on my ass. He didn’t stop though. I yelped, leaping away as he tried to come down on me. I managed to pull a leg sweep, knocking his left knee to the ground. I took the opportunity and came up behind him, linking my arms through his, pulling up to immobilize them and crossing my sticks over his throat. He laughed, seemingly impressed. Then he locked his arms down, pulling mine down and my sticks away from his neck. He flipped me over his back and I landed hard on the ground. I felt a stick on either side of my head. I sighed.

“Okay. I tried. I give up.”

“No, that was perfect. I’d have been dead. I just wanted to show you what would happen if you ever hesitate to finish the job.”

“Listen here, you fuck.”

“Save it. One more time to make sure that wasn’t beginner’s luck.”

I groaned. I was tired, and now I was already sore. I rolled my shoulders. I decided to try something new. I tilted my head, staring off towards the camp as if something was happening. Gladio turned slightly, buying into it for a second. I took that opportunity to attack. I quickly ran over, using my sticks to twist his wrists, causing him to lose his grip. Before he could grab me, I spun around to his back. I kicked the back of his knees, causing him to fall and allowing me to cross my sticks over his neck again.

“Think it’s beginner’s luck, dead man?”

“That was cheating.”

I let him up.

“ _That_ was using my advantages. Can’t expect my opponent to always fight fair.”

He chuckled.

“Alright. I’ll give you that. Now, come on. Ignis is making breakfast.”

“I could have slept like, two more hours.”

“You didn’t need it.”

“I’m going to actually stab you with these.”

He took the sticks, tossing them somewhere in the distance.

“Now you’re not.”

I crossed my arms, huffing.

“You know what? You go on. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Gladio gave me a suspicious look, but he went on. When I was sure he wasn’t going to turn back, I scrambled up a tree, stretching out on a large branch and dozing off. I’d slept in trees before, so this was no problem. I guess I dozed longer than I thought, because when I woke up, the sun was overhead, creating interesting shadows in the tree. I quickly realised the guys would be freaking out, and I scrambled down the tree. I dashed to the camp. The stuff was gone. Surely they wouldn’t have left without me? I pulled out my chocobo whistle, summoning Ailè.

“Hey girl. Can you take me to the guys? I can’t find them.”

She squawked, which I could only hope meant yes. I hopped on, and she dashed towards a large patch of forest that was a few miles south of the camp. The only reason I could see it was because we were on pretty flat terrain. We reached the forest in about an hour and a half. It had looked a lot closer, but I guess the flat terrain plays tricks on your eyes. I expected Ailè to stop at the edge of the forest, but she kept going. She ran for about fifteen minutes straight through the forest before she slowed down to a trot. She looked around for a few minutes before trotting to the left. We came out in Hammerhead. I was confused, to say the least. I looked around until I spotted the Regalia at Cindy’s. I spurred Ailè on, slowing her to a stop when we reached the garage. I hopped off, telling her to stay there. I couldn’t see anyone around. Then I heard a loud crash from the shop next to the garage. I speed walked to the window, peering in past the shelves. Someone had knocked over a rack of small parts. I stumbled back when the door slammed open.

“Someone has to have seen him! They’re incompetent apes, all of them!”

“Calm down Ignis. Insulting shop clerks isn’t helping us find Y/N.”

I gulped. I slowly slinked out from behind a newspaper rack, bumping into it to make some noise. All four heads turned to look at the source of the noise. In an instant, I was attacked in a hug. It was Ignis.

“You okay, Iggy?”

I wasn’t used to him being this.. emotional.

“I am now that you’re safe. You gave us all quite the scare.”

He pulled away, looking me straight in the eye.

“Where were you? Gladio came to camp, telling us that you’d told him you’d be there in a minute, but you never came.”

“Uhm, well, funny story, really. I might have kind of fallen asleep in a tree.”

I could practically feel the scolding I was about to get.

“Okay, now just hear me out on this.”

“There’s nothing to explain. You scared the hell out of us. We thought you’d been taken by Six knows what, or you’d wandered off somewhere and gotten yourself killed.”

“Okay, yes, those are logical thoughts but.. I didn’t _mean_ to fall asleep. I just wanted to rest a bit after getting my ass whooped with sticks. I closed my eyes, and I just didn’t open them till a few hours later.”

“I’ve half a mind to cuff you to Gladio again. Maybe then you won’t consider hiding out in a tree.”

“I wasn’t hiding out, Ignis. I was resting, I wasn’t gonna rest on that dusty ass ground. Besides, I didn’t want the sun in my face.”

“It doesn’t matter what your reason was. The fact is you lied to Gladio, and you didn’t tell us where you were, hence worrying us unnecessarily.”

“Okay, I did some of that, but I didn’t lie to Gladio.”

“Did you really plan to return to camp within the next five minutes?”

“I was planning on like, thirty or forty… yeah, I guess I lied.”

“Alright. Well, until we can trust you to be honest with us concerning your whereabouts, you cannot do anything or go anywhere without one of us knowing, and another going with you.”

“Oh, come on! It was a simple misunderstanding!”

“And I’d like to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

I couldn’t handle it anymore. I fucking snapped.

“Oh my god, you’re not my fucking parents! Fuck!”

I turned to storm off, but I felt someone grab my arm.

“I’m not fucking going anywhere! I’m going to Ailè! Leave me alone for two fucking minutes!”

I walked over to Ailè, who was laying down on a patch of grass. I sat down beside her, turning my back to the guys. I could faintly hear them arguing, but I didn’t care. They weren’t my parents and I hated when they tried to act like it. I was seriously considering starting a rebellious phase. Maybe if they realised they can’t control me like a parent could, they’d stop fucking trying. Then I remembered they were my legal guardians here. They could technically parent me. But that’s different from actually being a parent, and god knows I wasn’t going to have that ever again. I heard Ailè squawk pretty loudly, so I turned around. There was a man towering over me. I jumped up, whipping out my daggers. The man was older, but not old, maybe in his forties. He had close shaved blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He was dressed in all black and grey, and looked pretty intimidating. Considering his age, he was definitely built like a soldier.

“B-back off. I have some tough friends over there, and t-they will kick your ass if you don’t step off.”

“Hey, Cor! Over here!”

I looked behind the man to see Noct waving to the man. I lowered my daggers, my mouth hanging open.

“You better put those away, You’re going to hurt yourself.”

He sauntered over to my friends. I sheathed my daggers, turning to look at Ailè. She just tilted her head at me.

“Thanks. You’re helpful.”

I reluctantly followed ‘Cor’ to the Regalia, hanging back a few feet. I felt Ailè brush up behind me. I reached up, petting her beak. I watched as the guys treated Cor like an old friend. I saw Prompto gesture to me, and Cor turned to look at me. I tensed, setting my jaw and hardening my stare. He laughed, turning back to the others. I huffed, offended. He seriously laughed at me? Prompto waved me over. I refused to join them until Ignis gave me a look. I rolled my eyes, but I obliged. I walked around the car to join the circle opposite Cor. I did not like him nor did I trust him, no matter how buddy-buddy he was with the guys.

“Cor, this is Y/N, the child we talked about. Y/N, this is Cor, a friend of ours.”

I crossed my arms, slightly sneering in contempt.

“Nice to meet you too.”

He paused, probably expecting me to snark back. I didn’t give him the satisfaction.

“Not a talker, huh? You sure this is the hyper, snarky kid you told me about, Gladiolus?”

“That’s him. He’s just being a little brat right now.”

I glared Gladio down. I turned, walking away. Ignis turned me back around.

“Oh no you don’t. Y/N, Cor will be travelling with us. He’ll be helping Gladio train you.”

“Fuck no.”

I felt a smack on the back of my head. I wasn’t surprised to see Gladio had appeared behind me.

“Show him some respect. This guy helped protect the king.  He’s one of the greatest warriors ever. You should be honoured to have him teaching you.”

“I couldn’t give fewer fucks about how great you think he is. I don’t need the humiliation of two people kicking my ass. So no thanks. I’ll pass on this ‘honourable’ opportunity.”

Ignis ran a hand over his face, obviously exasperated.

“This is part of the reason he is here. Six above, you need some discipline.”

“You think I’m gonna listen to a complete stranger? You know how long it took me to even talk to _Cindy_. And she’s pretty much the nicest person I’ve ever met. What makes you think I’m ever gonna take any instruction from this stranger?”

“Don’t worry Ignis. I’m sure Y/N and I can work it out.”

He rested his hand on my shoulder. I grabbed his wrist, pulling it up and back quickly, using the momentum and leverage to shove him to the ground. I was honestly surprised I managed it, but I hid it well.

“Don’t fucking touch me. Don’t fucking talk to me. Don’t expect anything from me. I will not work with you, I will not associate with you, and I most certainly will not do anything you say. So you can take your training and shove it up your ass.”

I was pissed. They’d called in a stranger, without telling me, to not only train me, but to hopefully ‘teach me some discipline’ or some BS like that. I was already pissed off at them for trying to be my parents, and this was pushing every limit possible. As I started to go back to Ailè, I was whipped around and shoved against the car, an arm pressing into my throat. It was Cor. Of course.

“You are going to stop with this disrespectful attitude right now, or I will personally make sure you regret ever having it, understood?”

I was honestly scared shitless. I hadn’t had pissed anyone off that much since Gladio and I hated each other. Even then, I wasn’t as scared of him as I was Cor. I didn’t consider Gladio a killer. I knew he wouldn’t kill me, and probably couldn’t. I didn’t think that way about Cor. When I saw the anger in his eyes, I knew that this man had killed. He might not kill me, but he sure as hell had the capability. I tried not to show my fear as I just nodded. I don’t think it worked. Even if I had managed to keep my face straight, my entire body was spring loaded, ready to jump away at the first opportunity. I wasn’t in fight mode. I was in flight mode, and anyone with some sort of trained eye could see it. As soon as Cor removed his arm from my throat, I dashed away, mounting Ailè and spurring her to the east. I didn’t worry about the guys following me. There was a haven a few miles east of Hammerhead. They knew that’s where I was going, and I knew they would probably meet me there later. I slowed my companion to a trot as we approached the haven. I felt myself relax as we neared the familiar formation. Suddenly, Ailè was blindsided, toppling us both to the ground. In no time, we were surrounded by voretooths. I yelled and waved my arms at Ailè, sending her away. As she ran off, I could only hope she would go to get help. I faced the pack of four voretooths that were circling me. I unsheathed my daggers slowly, praying to the Six that my two hours of training would keep me alive. My faith was tested as a voretooth leaped at me. I twisted my body, slashing at its belly as it soared over me. Probably by sheer luck, I managed to practically gut the creature. It tumbled to the ground, staying down as it bled out. I sighed. Three left. They seemed a bit more wary now that I had wounded their friend. They started to dash in and out, faking me out constantly. I tried looking for an opening in their circle, but they kept me busy trying to fend them off. I remembered what Gladio said, about weaving between the enemies. I saw an opportunity as one dashed in towards me. The circle opened for a split second, and I took off. I knew I had no chance of outrunning them, but I knew someone who did. I took out my whistle, blowing it as hard as I could with what breath I had. Within seconds, I heard thundering feet coming up behind me. I heard a couple of yelps, and then Ailè was next to me. I threw myself on the saddle unceremoniously. My legs dangled over the side as I tried to swing them around while Ailè ran at forty miles an hour. I finally managed to sit upright. The voreteeth were right behind us, and closing in. I felt around in my saddlebag until I found a slingshot I had made a while ago. I took out some flint rocks that I had made into razor sharp discs and placed one in the band. I pulled back, aiming for an ugly head. I let it loose, the voretooth tripping over itself. I ended up using about three before I could hit the next one. I turned to reach back in the bag for another flint disc when I was pounced on. I struggled to hold the voretooth’s gnashing teeth away from my face. If only I could reach my daggers. I suddenly shrieked long and high, stunning the beast just long enough for me to take my dagger and plunge it into its chest. It howled and squirmed, getting blood everywhere until it finally died after about twenty seconds of hellish screaming. I pushed it off of me, yanking my dagger out. Ailè skidded to a stop beside me. I looked down at my shirt and jeans. I was covered in blood, and I already stunk of death. I mounted Ailè again, and we made record time getting back to Hammerhead. I jumped off Ailè as we approached the garage, picking myself off the ground and running over to my friends, huffing and panting. They saw me and immediately thought I was injured. I waved them back, trying to catch my breath. Once I did, I explained what had happened.

“I was actually planning to go to the haven, as you know. We were about a hundred or so yards from it when a voretooth blindsided us. I managed to get Ailè away before they could attack her. One of the four jumped over me, and I panicked. I kind of just thrust my dagger in the air, hoping for the best. When I looked over, the voretooth was on the ground, bleeding from its stomach a lot. The others started dashing in and out, I guess trying to tire me out or something. I remembered what Gladio said, about weaving in and out of your enemies. I saw an opening appear in the circle of death when one of the bastards dashed at me. I took off running, though I don’t know why I thought I could hope to outrun them long enough to call Ailè, but I did. I think she rammed them on her way to me, or else there was no way I could have had time to slow down and hop on. Of course the fucks started gaining on us, so I had to pelt them with my flint discs. I was trying to find another one in my bag when one jumped on me. God, its breath smelled. Those teeth were fucking nasty, and I was sure I was about to feel them tear into my face. I finally just fucking shrieked in its ears. It kind of went like, ‘the fuck?’. God knows how, but I was fast enough to grab a dagger and stab it in its chest. It.. it let out the most unholy, blood curdling scream I ever heard. It wiggled and screamed for almost half a minute before it died. I swear, if the gates of hell ever open, that’s what it will sound like.”

I looked down at my shirt again, just now feeling anger for getting it ruined.

“And of course the fucker had to ruin a perfectly good flannel.”

“You fought four voreteeth by yourself?”

“Oh my god. I almost fucking died and that’s your only question? Yeah, I did. But it was more like sheer luck, running away and pelting them, and then not wanting to die, so I let out an inhuman shriek. But yeah. I did, and I never want to do it again.”

Prompto still didn’t seem to believe me.

“You want to come see the bodies?”

“Yeah, cause I still don’t believe you.”

I huffed, mounting my chocobo and taking off, making sure the others could see me well enough to follow me. I stopped where I had accidentally gutted the first voretooth. There were already small scavengers picking at it, but it was obviously fresh. I gestured to the giant wound when my friends arrived.

“Okay, that’s just one. Where are the others?”

“Oh my fuck, really, Noct? Do none of you believe me?”

They were quick to shake their heads, signalling their disbelief. I rolled my eyes and started off towards what should be a trail of voretooth bodies. We came up on the first pretty quickly. It had a flint disc embedded in its eye socket. The next one must have taken a while to die, because we found it about a quarter of a mile from where I hit it. The disc had lodged just above the voretooth’s sternum. It had bled out for a while, judging by the amount of blood. We circled back to the last body, the one I had stabbed. There was a noticeable wound in its ribcage.

“I swear to god, if you don’t believe me, I’m going to shoot you with a flint disc.”

“Yeah, we believe you. We did the whole time.”

My jaw dropped.

“You absolute pieces of-”

“Y/N...”

I stopped myself from saying what I was going to say.

“Why the hell did you make me show you the bodies?”

“We figured Cor should see what you could do.”

“Are you- you could have just told me that!”

‘Would you really have done it to show me?”

I turned to Cor.

“You’re right. I wouldn’t have. But now you’ve seen it, so can we go back to Hammerhead? I need to change my” I looked down at my clothes,“ Everything.”

I noticed I had gotten blood on my saddle and on Ailè.

“I’ll give you a bath too, girl. Don’t worry.”

When we arrived at the RV, I was quick to occupy it first. I had grabbed a change of clothes from my bag in the trunk, and I was now taking a shower. It was weird to see the blood flow down the drain. I scrubbed my hair hard, getting all the gore out. I felt like I would have to bleach my entire body to get rid of the nastiness, but that wasn’t an option. I settled for vigorously scrubbing for half an hour. When I felt somewhat cleaner, I stepped out, drying off and changing. I’d grabbed an overly large sweater and, surprise surprise, a pair of jeans. I slipped on my beanie, as I didn’t feel like fixing up my hair. I left my clothes to soak in the bathtub with some detergent I’d found under the sink. I went out into the main part of the RV. I curled up on the recliner, trying to catch a quick nap. I heard the door open, and my hand was immediately on my left dagger. I opened one eye. It was just Iggy. I sighed, closing my eye and trying to relax enough to at least doze. The door opened again, and I heard cheerful conversation come into the RV. No sleep for me. I sat up, running my hands over my face and through my hair. I saw a pair of worn boots come to a stop in front of me.

“Rough morning?”

I looked up at the weathered face of Cor. I narrowed my eyes, annoyance radiating off of me.

“Yeah. Just a bit.”

I rested my forehead on my hands, closing my eyes. I never knew how tiring fighting could be. The adrenaline was finally wearing off, and I felt like I’d fought 400 voretooths, not four. I suddenly remembered that I had to bathe Ailè. I groaned, standing up and pushing past Cor and leaving the RV. As I examined Ailè, I realised she wasn’t as dirty as I’d thought. It was mainly the saddle. I removed the saddle and brushed out as much of the dried blood as I could. I used water and a ton of hand soap to remove the blood stains from her feathers. As soon as I turned the hose off, Ailè shook the water off, soaking me in the process.

“Ailè! Come on!”

She just tilted her head at me. I chuckled, rubbing her beak.

“You’re lucky you’re cute.”   

I grabbed the saddle off the outside table and set to work on that. I wasn’t really worried about the stains themselves; the saddle was dark enough to hide them. I mainly had to remove the stench and the blood that had worked its way under the saddle onto the woolen part. Luckily, Cindy had some leather cleaner on hand and was happy to let me use it. While I worked, I listened to my friends’ conversations. After about an hour and a half of scrubbing, I held the saddle up, making sure I’d cleaned it well. I was satisfied, so I replaced it on Ailè’s back and sent her on her way. I joined my friends at the table, jacking a chair from the front of the nearby hardware store.

“So, Y/N, would you care to enlighten Cor on any previous training you’ve had?”

“I haven’t had much. I did choreographed sword fights in theatre. I took archery classes a couple summers, and I’ve been doing boxing almost two years. I know street fighting better than anything else. I don’t really have a fighting style. Think of it like improv, but more violent.”

“Everyone has a fighting style. Gladio, tomorrow, I think I’ll sit in on your training session to evaluate him.”

“Alright. I’m gonna try to do them early in the morning, about five ish.”

“Uhm, ‘scuse me. I don’t think I heard you right. You said five in the _morning_?”

“Yep. Unless you wanna do it at three.”

“I guess five’s better than three.”

“Thought so.” He turned back to Cor.  “Anyways, we’re working on hand to hand tomorrow, so that should help you get a better idea for how he fights.”

“Yeah. I don’t think he should be doing any real fighting with weapons just yet.”

I was about ready to punch him. However, I knew I would not win that fight, so I controlled myself. I leaned back, closing my eyes. I heard gravel crunching immediately to my left. My reflexes kicked in, and my fist launched out, connecting with a side.

“What the hell?”

I looked at who it was. It was Prompto. I smiled sheepishly.

“Sorry, Prompto. Didn’t see ya there.”

He huffed, going to the RV. I looked back towards the others, who were giving me accusatory stares.

“What? I didn’t mean to. My reflexes are crap, but I still have ‘em, so my mind was like, ‘woah, threat! Punch it!’ and my arm was just like ‘kay. Will do.’ and before I could stop it, I’d punched Prompto. Chill out.”

I felt Gladio tousle my hair.

“You’re lucky you’re funny.”

“Hey, monkey paws off the hair. We talked about this.”

“Yeah, want me to tell Cor all about that car ride?”

My cheeks flushed, and I shook my head frantically.

“I will murder you in your sleep if you so much as think of saying a single thing about that.”

Cor leaned forward, obviously intrigued. I saw Gladio open his mouth to tell the story. I slapped my hand over his mouth.

“Gladio, I swear to every deity that is listening-”

I was cut off as I was yanked forward. Gladio flipped me to his other side, holding my wrists behind my back with one hand as I kneeled uncomfortably on the ground. He smirked at me, and I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Let me go, or I-I’ll…”

“You’ll do what?”

“I’ll think of something.”

“Uh-huh.”

He let me go, and I sat back down in my chair. I was mortified when he continued to tell the story. Ignis and Noctis were sitting opposite me, Noct snickering occasionally. Even Iggy seemed amused. I crossed my arms as Gladio got to the part about my snorting. I felt my cheeks flush again, so I pulled my beanie down over my face, hiding my face in my hands. I heard Cor laugh heartily, and I was honestly surprised he even laughed. I didn’t think he could feel any sort of joy. That might have been a bit biased though.

“Gladio, I’m going to stab you with a rotten voretooth tusk.”

“Oh, come on. It was hilarious.”

I pulled my beanie up out of my face, glaring at him. I couldn’t keep a straight face though, and I ended up breaking out in a grin.

“Yeah, okay. Whatever. Anyways, back to my torture- I mean training. What exactly are you planning?”

“We’ll probably stick with hand to hand for a few weeks, then get back to weapons training. We’ll focus on training with daggers, but I think you’ll benefit from some sword practice as well.”

“Great. So, every morning at five?”

“You really should train every chance you get, but yeah, every morning at five.”

I leaned back in the chair, closing my eyes. I was pretty tired.

“Don’t get too comfy. We don’t have anything planned today, so we’re gonna start hand to hand.”

“Gladio, please. I just fought for my life. Give me like, an hour and a half.”

“An hour, then we’re starting.”

“Perfect. I’ll be on the recliner if anyone needs me.”

I left the group, curling up on the familiar chair and dozing off for the second time that day.


	10. Dickery and the Crownsguard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm really excited, because I've started writing the very end of this story. Now, I have had to stray from the canon story quite a bit towards the end. This is partially because I need to fit my plot into it, but the main reason is time. I'm using a school provided laptop to write this whole story, and I really want to get it finished before the end of the school year. Of course, I will do my very best to make sure the quality of this story doesn't suffer because of that. I'm so glad you've all enjoyed what I have so far. I'm only posting one chapter this time, but it's about five thousand words, so I hope that makes up for it. As always, comments and criticism are welcome! Also, I completely BS'd the Crownsguard rules and stuff. I couldn't find a reliable source (or really any) so I made up something that seemed reasonable.

I was rudely woken up when someone shook me violently. I shot up, kicking wildly.

“Woah, woah. Calm down.”

“You know, there’s less terrifying ways to wake someone up.”

Gladio shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess. Come on, it’s been an hour.”

I groaned, but I got up and followed him out of the RV.

“Where are we going?”

“There’s a field behind the shop. It’ll work fine for training.”

As we approached said field, I saw Cor already standing there.

“Does he really have to be here?”

“Yes. He needs to see how you fight.”

“I already told him. I don’t fight in any particular way. It changes depending on the situation. That’s how street fighting works.”

“And that in itself is a fighting style. It’s called adaptive fighting.”

“Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”

Cor raised a hand in greeting as we approached. I ignored him, walking past him to where Gladio had pointed.

“He’s not really a friendly kid, is he?”

“Cut him a bit of slack. He lost his whole universe a few weeks ago. He found his family’s bodies rotting in the basement of his home. We’re all he’s known here, and he doesn’t take well to strangers. Besides, I think he’s a bit intimidated. You don’t come off as very friendly yourself.”

“I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around that. I never really considered that other universes existed, yet here’s a kid from one. And he should be intimidated. Maybe he’ll be a little more respectful in the future.”

"I can hear you. I may need glasses, but my ears work just fine.”

“Well, that’s good. You’ll be able to hear me when I tell you your stance is terrible.”

Cor was _seriously_ getting on my last nerve.

“Cor, you can take your advice, and shove it straight up your-”

“Y/N!”

It took an insane amount of control,  but I stopped myself. Gladio made his way over to me. He stopped in front of me, crossing his arms. His expression said ‘keep this up, and I will make you regret it.’ I set my jaw, reluctantly fixing my stance. Gladio took his, and we set to circling each other, waiting for the other to trip up. Unfortunately, neither of us gave the other any chance to attack. It’s not that we were evenly matched, far from it, really. The problem was that we knew each other’s fighting styles. Because of this, we constantly changed things up. I was used to it, it was how I always fought. It wasn’t how Gladio normally fought, but he learned quickly. I did have an advantage, however. How I fought, what Gladio had called adaptive fighting, you learned every type of fighting style. In a fight, you found out your opponent’s, and you would fight in a way that would counter it best. Of course, I’d been fighting like that for years. I knew most every fighting style, and had a pretty good mastery of them. Though I’m sure Gladio knew of most of them and probably used the other styles on occasion, he’d only mastered his. That’s where my advantage was. We kept trying each other, feigning jabs, and fake rushing. At that rate, we would tire ourselves out before either of us threw an actual punch. So, I did what I do best. I changed it up. I knew Gladio would be expecting me to fake my hit, so I didn’t. I landed a right hook just under his ribs. It knocked the wind out of him. I took the opportunity to roundhouse his thigh, just above his knee. Right there is a connecting point between the quad  and the knee. It’s small, but if you manage to hit it, your opponent will be down for the count 9/10 times. What I didn’t plan on was this being that one time it doesn’t work. He definitely stumbled, but he recovered, which threw me off. I had been planning to get him on the ground on his stomach and pin his arms behind his back. However, that didn’t happen. I panicked as Gladio came at me full force. I ducked his first throw, but he knocked me in the middle of my back with the heel of his hand. I fell to the ground, struggling to breathe. I heard Gladio come up behind me, so I grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it in his face, which gave me time to get up and recover my breath a bit. While he was blinded, I managed to carry out my plan from before, and he tapped out. He was still rubbing his eyes when we stood up.

“What the hell was that?! That was some dirty, unfair fighting if I’ve ever seen it.”

“When I was in fights on the street, I knew to expect dirty fighting. If your opponent thinks they can’t win, they will resort to anything to save themselves. I’m not going to start ‘fighting fair’ just because you can’t handle a little dirt in your eyes.”

“No one here does that! I don’t know what kind of fucked up people were in your universe, but here, we fight fair and we don’t throw dirt in each others’ faces!”

“You know damn well that people here are way more fucked up than anyone where I come from! We fought to survive, and if that means that we had to throw a little dust or grab a branch and beat each other with it, then so fucking be it!”

“That’s enough! You’re both acting like sore losers.”

“Cor, I swear to every fucking deity above, you better shut your damn mouth, or I will do more than throw dirt in your eyes!”

I regretted those words as soon as they came out. Cor looked angry, but I wasn’t worried about him. Gladio looked murderous. His eyes were red from the dirt, and I could tell I had pissed him off to no end. I held up my hands, slowly backing away.

“Gladio, just.. chill out. I don’t wanna fight you for real. Gladio..”

I saw him raise a fist and I bolted. I ran as fast as I could back to the RV. I risked a look behind me, and I saw Gladio chasing after me. Cor was behind him, but I couldn’t tell if he was stopping Gladio or coming after me. I made it to the RV, running up to Ignis and hiding behind him.

“Iggy, he’s gonna kill me. I pissed him off and he’s gonna kill me.”

He must have thought I was joking, because he scoffed, and shrugged me off, walking into Cid’s garage. I saw Gladio dashing across the lot towards me, and I froze. I’d never been afraid of him before, but I was damn scared then. I raised my arms as he neared me and.. nothing. I heard grunting, and I saw Cor had Gladio pinned on the ground.

“Gladiolus, get a grip!”

I didn’t think Gladio could hear Cor. He managed to get Cor off of him surprisingly easily and charged me again. I had no choice. I rolled to the right and tackled Gladio from behind. We fell into the table and chairs. I had Gladio in a choke hold, but I wasn’t squeezing too hard.

“Gladio, I don’t want to do this!”

He kept trying to get me off his back, but we were tangled in the chairs too much for him to be able to do much of anything. I didn’t want to, but I pulled my arm tighter, and I could feel him struggling to breathe. The rasps of his breaths against my arm hurt me more than you could imagine. It was at this point that Ignis and the other two came out. They saw me strangling Gladio and crying and they pulled us apart. They didn’t have to hold me back. I didn’t want to do that in the first place. Gladio kneeled on the ground, coughing and hacking, his throat recovering from my hold. Once he could breathe for the most part, he lifted his head, stared at me, and smiled. He fucking smiled.

“Why the fuck are you smiling, you sadistic fuck?? I could have killed you!”

His voice was strained, but he answered.

“You did good.”

He went back to coughing. I couldn’t help staring at him. What the fuck did he mean ‘you did good’? I looked to Cor, who was also grinning a bit.

“Would you care to explain?”

“He was worried that when the time came to finish someone, you would hesitate. By almost choking him out, you proved that you probably wouldn’t hesitate a second if your life was in danger.”

“By almost killing my friend!! Would you have let me kill him!?!? This is by far the most **sickening** thing I’ve ever seen anyone do!”

I rose up, stomping over to Gladio. I punched him as hard as I could in the jaw. He fell to the ground with a good amount of force.

“And you!! This was _your_ idea?? You know how much I _hate_ hurting people, and yet you made me think I had to almost kill you to save my own skin!! You inconsiderate, disgusting, sadistic **piece of shit!!** Don’t ever try to talk to me again, or I swear to god, **_I will kill you!!_ ** ”

I stormed off, but I was quickly stopped by a hand on my arm. Without thinking, I swung around to punch the face it belonged to, and I felt my fist connect. I looked at who it was. It was Ignis. I gasped, backing away, tears in my eyes. 

“Iggy, I’m sorry.”

He tensed and untensed his jaw before replying, his voice terrifyingly calm.

“You will not be leaving this vicinity. I believe you and Gladio have some things you need to talk over.”

With that, he turned away. God, I felt bad. Ignis was the one person who I almost never argued with, and I’d punched him in the face. Granted, I didn’t _know_ it was him, but it was still him. I turned to Gladio and Cor. My voice was soft, but it surged with anger and hurt.

“Are you happy now? Are you satisfied with my ability to ‘finish the job’?”

“No.”

I swear I felt a capillary burst in my eye. It took all my self control to not actually kill him then and there.

“And that’s good.”

That caught me off guard. I actually stumbled back a bit, my face one of shock and confusion.

“Uhm, what? You were all worried that I couldn’t kill someone, and now you’re telling me it’s good that I can’t? Would you please make up your fucking mind?”

Cor started to explain, and I turned to cut him off. I was the one cut off, however, when he gave me a look that stopped me in my tracks.

“No sane person can kill without hesitation.”

“You guys fuck up Magitek troopers for fun. I wouldn’t call that hesitation.”

“Magitek troopers aren’t human. They are pure evil. It’s easy to kill something when you know it doesn’t feel.”

“And the bounty hunts?”

“Those are just jobs. You tell yourself that until that’s all you think of them.”

“Those creatures feel. They hurt.”

“And yet you killed those voretooths.”

“With extreme amounts of hesitation. I didn’t want to kill them. I only gutted one because I couldn’t stop myself from raising my knife. When I was on the ground with the last voretooth writhing and screeching with my knife in its chest, I knew true horror. I’ve never killed something before. I mean, I’ve killed cockroaches, but they don’t feel anything but hunger. Those voretooths hunted together. They had a camaraderie. That last voretooth felt fear as it suffered by my hands, by my knife. No creature wants to die. So I hope you don’t expect me to kill anytime soon, because I can’t. I hope you can respect that, because god knows you didn’t today.”

Cor placed a hand on my shoulder.

“We don’t _expect_ you to kill. We don’t _want_ you to kill. But we need to be sure that if your life or your friends’ lives are in danger, you can. You helped prove that when you killed those voretooths.”

I looked at Gladio.

“And what about when I didn’t hesitate to choke you to save my own skin? Why didn’t I hesitate to hurt my friend? What does that say?”

He laughed, shrugging.

“You and I both know you had no intention of hurting me. You barely put any pressure on my throat.”

“But you were like, hacking up a lung.”

“That’ll happen to any guy who gets their adam’s apple pressed into their trachea. Just hurt a bit.”

“So, I didn’t actually hurt you?”

“You couldn’t hurt me if you tried.”

“I can if I throw dirt in your eyes.”

“Fuck you.”

Cor shot Gladio a look. He shrugged. I saw Ignis come out of the RV, and he had a noticeable bruise on his jaw. I winced when I saw it.

“Have you worked things out? We have places to be.”

“Unless Y/N disagrees, I think we’re good.”

He looked to me for confirmation.

“I still hate that you did it, but we’re good.”

I glanced at Ignis’ jaw. I couldn’t help but physically shrink in on myself. I jumped when Ignis said something to me.

“Sorry, what did you say?”

“Would you mind helping me pack our things into the Regalia?”

We’d put everything in the trunk earlier that day, but he had already started towards the car, so I had to follow him. When we reached it, he turned to me, leaning against the trunk. I couldn’t help but guess at what he was going to say.

“Okay, before you chew into me, I know I fucked up. I don’t exactly think sorry would work, but I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t know it was you. I thought you were Cor or Gladio, and I didn’t think before I swung, and then it was you, and I feel really bad, because you haven’t done anything to deserve it and I’ll do anything to make it up to you. I’ll wash the car for year. Uhm, I could polish all the saddles, I could do all the cooking and washing, I-”

“I’m going to stop you there, Y/N. I’m not angry. I do wish you had looked before you threw your punch, but I understand you were upset. People tend to act without thinking when they are angry or hurt. I’m not going to punish you, but I am going to have to do something about you strangling Gladio.”

“But-but didn’t you hear us? I honestly thought he was going to kill me. You know me. If I could have thought of any other way, I would have done it. It turns out it was a sick experiment by him and Cor to test my ‘killer instinct’.”

“I know. And I will be having a word with Gladio, but the fact remains that you did almost choke him unconscious. You could have let go.”

“I know. But he was still acting like he was trying to get me. I was scared, and I don’t think I realised how hard I was holding him.”

“I’m sorry, Y/N.”

“Iggy, please. I already feel bad enough about it. I almost knocked my friend out. I’m probably going to beat myself up about it for a while. And besides, you already have me on 24 hour watch. What else can you do? Take my drawing stuff?”

He sighed, shaking his head at the sky as if to say ‘what am I going to do with this child?’

“I suppose you’re right. However, I shall assign Cor to watch you. You need to learn to respect him, if not be somewhat friendly, and this will be the best way to do that.”

“Ignis, I’d honestly rather get ripped apart by a behemoth than have Cor watch me all day.”

“Well, I’m afraid that’s not an option. Now, please go get the others. We are heading to Lestallum to visit Gladio’s sister.”

“Iris? Gladio talks about her a lot. If she’s half as cool as he says she is, I think I’ll like her.”

“Yes. Do be careful what you say and do around her, though. Gladio is very protective.”

I shrugged and headed to get the others. Prompto and Noctis were chilling out in the RV, Gladio and Cor were chatting by the hardware shop. Noctis, Prompto and Gladio all piled in the Regalia and Cor took his own car. It was about an hour’s drive to Lestallum, so I’d taken my sketchbook out of the trunk. I couldn’t work on the portraits with Noctis next to me, so I was working on a sketch of an Anak stretching for a high branch in a tree. I felt his gaze over my shoulder, so I turned to confront him about it. 

“Noct, would you mind not staring over my shoulder as I draw? It’s kind of distracting.”

“Sorry. You’re just really good.”

“Thanks.”

I went back to working on the tree’s shadow when there was a large bump in the road. It caused me to make a long dark line across the Anak, and my pencil tip snapped. I sighed in extreme annoyance, crumpling up the drawing and tossing it out the window. I flipped to a new page, and started again. By the time we reached Lestallum, I’d given up on drawing in the Regalia. Bumps in the road had ruined five attempts of the same drawing and broken five more pencils. We pulled into a parking lot on the edge of the city. Somehow, Cor had beaten us there, and was already conversing with Iris. We all hopped out, and I replaced my drawing stuff in the trunk. I’d never met Iris before, so I was kind of nervous. I wasn’t afraid of Iris or meeting her. I was afraid of what Gladio would do if I did something wrong. Cor and Iris saw us coming over and turned to greet us. Iris tackled Gladio, and he swung her around, obviously happy to see her. She greeted Ignis, Noct, and Prompto with the same enthusiasm. When she got to me, she was understandably wary. She looked to Gladio for help, and he just nodded. She curtsied.

“Hello. I’m Iris Amicitia, Gladio’s sister.” She then held out her hand. I shook it.

“Gladio’s told me a lot about you. The name’s Y/N.”

“He has?”

“Yeah. If we’re not talking about food or fighting, he tells me all about you. From what he’d told me, I figured you were pretty cool. I guessed right.”

She laughed, and I felt a gaze on me. I turned to see Gladio looking at me suspiciously. I gave him a look like ‘Really, dude?’. I turned back to Iris.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Iris.”

“Same to you.”

She went back to Cor, probably to continue their conversation, and I went to Gladio.

“What’s up with you? You know I’m gay. I’m not gonna date your sister.”

“I’m not worried about you and her… dating.”

He spit out the word with obvious strain, as if he couldn’t imagine it being in the same sentence with his sister.

“You tend to come off as flirty, and she might take it wrong.”

“I do not!”

He raised an eyebrow at me. Prompto and Noctis agreed with him.

“Listen here, you fucktrucks-”

“Y/N.”

“Sorry, Iggy. You don’t think I come off as flirty, do you?”

He adjusted his glasses, uncomfortable with the question.

“He is right, I’m afraid. Your… confidence tends to come off as a form of flirting to most.”

“Ugh. I’ll just tell her if you guys are so worried.”

“I’ll tell her. For all we know, you could back out if she starts to show any sort of emotion.”

I glared at him, but I knew he was right.

“Fine. I honestly don’t see what the worry is, but y’all do whatever.”  

I headed back to the Regalia, retrieving my switchblade from a bag with my daggers and their sheathes. Iggy told me that Lestallum was a safe place, but you never know. It’s always good to be prepared. Besides, they could literally pull their weapons out of thin air if they needed to. I couldn’t do that, so I carried mine. We followed Iris to a hotel that was pretty fancy. We were greeted by an old man and his grandson. They introduced themselves as Jared and Talcott. Talcott was a pretty energetic kid, always moving. We paid for a room and met up there. I stretched out on a couch next to the window. It was one of those that was almost built into the window itself. I closed my eyes and just listened to everyone around me. Everyone seemed relaxed, and were either laughing or just talking with each other. I heard steps coming towards me, and then the light was blocked out by a shadow. I opened on eye to see Talcott standing over me.

“So, are you in the Crownsguard?”

It was a random question and it caught me off guard.

“Uhm, no. I’m not. I’m just friends with Ignis, Prompto, Noctis, and Gladio.”

“Oh. Then why was Gladio talking about you having a Kingsglaive uniform?”

This kid was pretty nosy.

“It’s not a real uniform. Well, it’s made by the same person, but it has no significance to the guard.”

“Oh. Are you gonna join?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because, I wasn’t raised with the prince and I don’t have the experience. Besides, I don’t fight well enough with weapons anyways.”

“So, why do you hang out with them then?”

“They’re my friends, whether I’m in the Crownsguard or not.”

He seemed satisfied with my answers, so he rejoined the others. I closed my eyes again, and another shadow blocked my light.

“Talcott, please. No more ques-”

“Talcott left.”

I opened one eye to see Cor. I wasn’t any less annoyed than I would have been if he _had_ been Talcott.

“What do you want, Cor?”

“You and I need to talk.”

I closed my eye and rolled over, my back to him.

“Not now. I don’t feel like it.”

Against my will, my feet were pushed off the couch and Cor took their place. I groaned and sat up, pulling my legs back on the couch and sitting cross legged.

“What?”

“You know why Ignis had me come along with you.”

“Yeah. Apparently I’m a little shit, and I need to learn discipline or whatever.”

“Yes. There’s that. But there’s more. I overheard Talcott asking you those questions. I guess you can never trust a child to keep something quiet.”

“I’m assuming there’s something I’m not supposed to know. I still don’t, but please continue.”

“He asked you those questions because we were discussing how best to train you for joining the Crownsguard.”

I choked on my own spit in surprise, almost coughing up my lungs. When I was finished dying, I turned to Cor in utter disbelief.

“Cor, what you and Gladio pulled earlier was bad enough. I don’t need another fucked up joke like that right now.”

“The Crownsguard is nothing to joke about. Your friends feel as if you would do well in the Crownsguard. They believe you could even benefit from it.”

“How would I benefit from being in the Crownsguard?”

“The Crownsguard is not just a small group of separate soldiers. We are brothers and sisters in our duty. We have each other’s back. It can be comforting to know there are others ready to assist you at a moment’s notice.”

“Okay, but I’m nowhere near good enough to be in the Crownsguard. I can barely defend _myself_ against a few voretooths. How can I possibly hope to defend my friends from much stronger enemies?”

“That’s why you train. It builds not only your physical strength, but your mental strength as well. You need more than brute strength to defeat an enemy.”

“Trust me, that won’t be a problem. I don’t have the brute strength to rely on. Or any strength for that matter.”

“You have more strength than you think. In any case, we’ll work on that, too.”

“Whatever. Anyway, how is this gonna work? Are you gonna train me on the road?”

“No. You will have to train at the castle.”

“But, what about the others?”

“They have somewhere to be.”

“Altissia, right? I heard Iggy talking to Noctis about it. There’s some sort of ceremony or something happening, and it has something to do with Noct. The only reason it’s taking so long is because the ferry’s broken or something.”

“Yes. Noctis is marrying Lady Lunafreya in Altissia.”

“So, how long will they be gone?”

“It depends on several things, which are too complicated to explain at the moment.”

“Oh. How long will I be training?”

“A few years, at least. Crownsguard members usually start training as soon as they can hold a weapon, but you’re not the oldest recruit ever.”

“How many are my age?”

“Currently, no recruits. Anyone your age is typically close to graduation or graduating.”

“Oh. What’s the age range for recruits?”

“Between thirteen and fourteen years old. To become a part of the Crownsguard, you have to be exceptionally skilled in many areas. The younger you start, the more time you have to hone those skills.”

“So, I’m gonna be like, thirty before I actually join.”

He chuckled.

“Not exactly. How fast you join depends on how fast you learn. If you can prove yourself in three years, then you’ll be joining in three years."

“So if a thirteen year old does well enough in two years?”

“There are certain limitations. Obviously, we can’t put a fifteen or sixteen year old in that amount of danger just yet. They mainly take shifts in the castle patrol. Once they turn eighteen, they can join the official Crownsguard.”

“Well, I can guarantee you, I won’t train fast enough to have to do castle patrol.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m sixteen. I turn seventeen in two months. January seventh.”

“Hmm. You’re probably right. In any case, we need to get you to the castle as soon as possible. We’ll leave in two days.”

“That soon?”

“Yes. Your friends have found a way to Altissia, and the sooner they get there the better. Of course, I understand you will need some time to say goodbye.”

“God, you make it sound like I’ll never see them again.”

“You won’t for a while. They will be in Altissia for at least a month, then they have other obligations around Lucis to attend to once they return. It could be a year and a half to two years before you see them again.”

“Will I be able to talk to them in any way?”

“Don’t you have a phone?”

“It’s the one from my universe. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask for the inter-universe coverage plan.”

“I know someone who could get it to work here.”

“That’d be great.”

I paused for a moment, a question on the tip of my tongue. I didn’t know quite what I wanted to ask Cor. After a moment of silent consideration, I realised I wanted to know if he thought I could make it. I honestly don’t know why I cared; he and I still weren’t on the best of terms. But I still found myself wanting his opinion.

“Hey, Cor. Do you think I could make it in the Crownsguard?”

“Well, Your friends have faith in you.”

“I know, but.. Do _you_ think I could?”

He thought about it for a good few minutes before answering.

“Honestly, from what I’ve seen of your fighting, I’m not sure. You don’t fight like any of us, and I’m not sure how the instructors will handle that.”

“What do you mean, I don’t fight like y’all?”

“For one, we fight fairly. Second, part of the training is to help you find the way you fight, and strengthen that one style. You don’t have any one way you fight, which will make it hard to help you strengthen your fighting.”

“I can’t help that that’s how I fight. It’s just how I learned. Use your advantages, all of them. Even if it means playing dirty. All that matters is that you win. Where I come from, in my part of earth, it was rare for both people to walk away from a fight. Usually, the loser had to be dragged to the nearest hospital. We fought for dominance. We fought for friends or family, occasionally. To establish dominance or protect your loved ones, you had to make sure that person wouldn’t fuck with you ever again. Whether it’s because they’re afraid of you or they’re six feet under. If some old men with their heads in their dusty asses can’t handle that, then they can watch as I rub the dirt in their eyes and beat them with their own weapon.”

I nearly busted out laughing at the look on Cor’s face. He looked horrified and slightly impressed at the same time. He cleared his throat, standing up.

“Well, I think you could do well. But talk like that to any of the instructors, and you will be the one with dirt in your eyes.”

I shrugged, following him to the circle of people in the middle of the room. I perched on the arm of the sofa next to Prompto.

“So, y’all think I could make it?”

“Yes. Even with your lack of experience, we all believe you could pass the training, perhaps even excel in it.”

“So, I guess I won’t be going to Altissia?”

“Unfortunately not. You wouldn’t even be allowed through the gates, since you have no documentation. Being in the Crownsguard will help with that also. Travelling with us as a guard will grant you automatic access anywhere as long as you are with Noctis.”

“Will you be able to visit me when you come back?”

“Of course. You may even receive further training from Gladio.”

“I think I should leave first thing in the morning.”

They started to protest, but I cut them off.

“The sooner I leave, the sooner you can get to Altissia. It’ll make it easier to say goodbye, as well.”

They all reluctantly agreed. I turned to Cor.

“What am I allowed to have there?”

“It’s not like a boot camp. You can bring anything except for your weapons.”

“My daggers? Why not?”

“You can’t have weapons in your room, and I wouldn’t trust the palace enough to keep them from getting lost.”

“Alright. Can I bring my drawing stuff?”

“You won’t have much time to draw, but yes.”

“Alright. I’ll go pack.”

It didn’t look like it, but I was excited to go train at the palace. It meant a lot to me that they thought I was good enough for the Crownsguard. Of course, it sucked that I wouldn’t see them for almost two years. I’d be surrounded by strangers in a strange place, again, for two years. I probably wouldn’t even see Cor that much. I only packed a few changes of clothes, toiletries, and my drawing stuff. I carefully placed my daggers in a small box along with my neatly folded uniform. We’d agreed that we could trust Cindy and Cid to hold onto them until I needed them again. When I finished packing, I checked the time.  It was eleven thirty. In eight hours, I’d be saying goodbye to my only friends for almost two years. I almost regretted deciding to leave the next morning, but I’d never be able to leave if I waited any longer. It was best for all of us. I rejoined the circle, and we all chatted and laughed for another hour before heading to bed. I stretched out on the couch, as I was the smallest. I had trouble falling asleep. I was anxious and scared. A lot could happen in two years. What if they changed? What if **I**  changed? Training to be a warrior can change a person drastically. What if they didn’t recognize me when they came back? Or worse, what if they forgot about me completely? No, that’d never happen. They cared about me too much. They’d come back, and we’d all be together again, going on crazy adventures and messing around. With that happy thought, I finally managed to fall asleep.


	11. Don't Piss Your Instructor Off. You'll Die or Something.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader leaves for the palace and Crownsguard training, and meets a special someone in the foyer(?) of the hotel. He meets his instructor. It doesn't go very well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello. Long time, no updates. I realise I've been procrastinating, but, good news. I finally finished the story. I just have to check it for typos, split it up into chapters and post it. I can tell you now, almost none of the chapters will be the same length, but majority of them will be more than 1500 words. I honestly cried writing the ending. I'll let you decide if they were happy or sad tears. Thank you for sticking with me, and thanks for reading! There will probably be a chapter spam over the next three to four days, so be prepared.

When Cor woke me up, it felt too soon. I wasn’t ready to get up. I wasn’t ready to leave my friends. I knew I had to, but that didn’t make it any less difficult. I slowly got up off the couch, grabbing my bag and meeting my friends in the lobby. As I came down the stairs, I saw them talking to a man with bright crimson hair, clad in many layers of clothes, topped off with a fedora. He held himself high, but he talked as if he was humble. I knew from one look that I didn’t like him. I came up beside Noctis, who was talking to the man. The man looked from Noctis to me for a split second, and I swear I saw a gleam in his eye. I _definitely_ didn’t like him.

“I’d be more than happy to help his highness, but I’m afraid I have.. prior engagements.”

He looked to me and held my gaze.

“Well, hello. Who is this adorable little one?”

I almost told him what this ‘adorable little one’ could do to him when Noctis shoved me behind him, and the other three stepped between me and the man. I was surprised to hear Prompto threaten him.

“He is none of your business, Ardyn, and you have no place speaking to him.”

“Oh-ho, touchy, touchy.”

He peered over Noctis to address me.

“You’re very lucky to have such protective friends. A child like you could get very hurt on their own.”

Gladio grabbed Ardyn by the collar, lifting him on his toes.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, because that sounded like a threat. As Prompto said, you have no place speaking to him. If we hear you say one more word to him, I swear to the Six, we will rip you apart.”

“Gladio, release Ardyn. Violence will not help anyone.”

Gladio shoved Ardyn away.

“You should learn to control your attack dog. His temper will get you all in trouble.”

I pushed through the wall of my friends, walking right up to Ardyn.

“You listen to me, you cherry headed, pompous, incompetent ass. You are going to stop insulting my friend, or I will make you regret ever coming to Lestallum.”

“Well, well. You have quite the spirit. I’d even say you have more than your friends here combined. Come with me, and I can show how to use that.”

I could feel the disgust boiling up in my stomach. I had my fist raised to punch him, but it was quickly caught by Ignis. He had to grab both of my arms and hold me back as I attempted to attack Ardyn. Gladio beat me to the punch, however. He shoved Ardyn against the wall, pinning his forearm on his throat, choking him.

“What did I say? You don’t speak to him, and you sure as hell don’t get to take him anywhere!”

“Gladio, back off.”

“Ignis..”

“Gladio, release him.”

With a snarl, Gladio released Ardyn. Ignis kept me behind him, as he addressed Ardyn calmly, but coldly.

“Ardyn, we have no wish to quarrel with you, but we ask one simple thing. Do not speak to Y/N, do not look at Y/N. He does not exist to you. Any business you have is with us, not him. For your own sake, refrain from doing these things, and we will have no problems. Understood?”

“Hm, I suppose. It’s only for a day, seeing as we won’t cross paths again.”

It was then that Cor appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

“It’s not even for a day. Y/N and I were just leaving. Y/N, say goodbye and let’s go. Ardyn, give them a few minutes, please.”

“But of course.”

He went out the main doors and disappeared from sight. I turned to the others.

“I know it’s only a couple years, but it feels like I’ll never see you again.”

“You will see us very soon. We’ll try our hardest to keep in touch.”

I hugged each of them in turn as I felt tears prick the corners of my eyes.

“Bye guys. I’ll see you soon. I promise to kick your asses next time I see you.”

That earned me a small smile from all of them. I slowly turned and left, passing Ardyn on my way out.

“Touching. I believe your friend is right. You’ll be seeing them _very_ soon.”

Before I could ask him what that meant, Cor yelled at me to get a move on. I left Ardyn with a glare, climbing into Cor’s truck. As we sped away from Lestallum, I couldn’t help but feel like Ardyn was right, but for all the wrong reasons.

 

* * *

 

We reached the palace at twelve in the afternoon. I shouldered my pack and followed Cor through the large doors. It was huge. I’d expected it to be pretty big, but I’d vastly underestimated it. The Lucian palace put all of the castles on earth to shame. Distracted by my gawking, I accidentally ran into someone.

“Shit, sorry!”

I looked up to see who I ran into, and I swear, that man was the scariest person I’ve ever seen. I could feel my heart drop into my stomach, and I immediately regretted saying anything.

“Why are you here? You don’t live here, and the king is not holding any audiences.”

I opened and closed my mouth, looking like a pale fish gasping for air. Luckily, before I could embarrass myself further, Cor stepped in.

“Clarus. This is the recruit I told you about. Y/N, this is Clarus Amicitia, shield to the king.”

Clarus looked me over, and I could feel the scrutiny. I could practically feel his disapproval smothering me like a heavy blanket.

“He’s small. How old is he?”

“Seventeen.”

“And you still recruited him? He’s as small as our youngest recruits, yet he’s six years older. If anyone else had recruited him, I’d have him kicked back out on the streets. I trust your judgement, Cor, but don’t be surprised if he doesn’t last a week.”

I was ready to rip him a new one, but luckily my common sense was stronger than my anger.

“I was actually travelling with the prince and his friends when Cor recruited me. And yes, I’m small, but I’ll have you know, I can take and give out more than you think. I’ll be just as good a soldier as any of yours in three years or less.”

“My soldiers have trained their entire lives to be what they are now. You couldn’t be as good as them in twenty years, let alone three.”

“Try me.”

“Trust me, I will. And when I am through, you’ll wish Cor had never found you. I’m honestly surprised my son allowed you to travel with them. He’s not one for pity cases.”

I felt my arm muscles tense, from my shoulder to my forearm, ready for a swing. I kept myself under control, though. I couldn’t afford to anger this man, however pretentious he was.

“That’s enough. Clarus, I’ll see you tomorrow. Y/N, keep moving.”

Clarus turned from us, heading down the hall. I sneered at him behind his back, and I received a clap on the back of the head.

“Ow! The hell was that for?”

“For being an idiot. That’s Gladio’s father, and your instructor. If you’d kept your mouth shut, you might’ve had a chance of avoiding his attention in training. You just screwed yourself over for the next two years.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not a fan of pretentious assholes who look down their nose at everyone.”

“Watch yourself. Clarus is a respected man and soldier. He does his job well, and he just wants to be sure the next generation of soldiers does the same.”

“So does he train Crownsguard or soldiers?”

“Both. Obviously, Crownsguard is a smaller group of recruits, and it gets smaller as the training goes on. Out of the fifty we start with, usually five to eight make the cut. The rest, if they’re good enough, become soldiers. Whoever’s left gets kicked out, typically going back to their families and living a normal life.”

“Great. What are my chances of being in that five to eight?”

“Not very good. Even without pissing off the instructor, you’d have to work harder to prove yourself. It’s pretty rare for a sixteen year old to be recruited. They’ll want you trained in three or four years, so you can work while you’re still young and fresh. If you can’t pass in that time, you’ll either be put in a squadron or you’ll be kicked out. The younger recruits train until !they’re nineteen. Since they start at ten or eleven, they’ll have a lot more time to train than you. Of course, you’ve gained the special attention of the instructor, so you will have to be the one of the best if you want to pass.”

“Maybe if he didn’t have a fucking tree up his ass, he wouldn’t be so angry all the time.”

“The stress of being the king’s shield _and_ the responsibility of training new recruits will cause anyone to have an off putting attitude.”

“Whatever. So, I have to be the best of the group in three years or I’m gone. No pressure.”

Cor stopped at a smaller pair of wooden doors, turning to me. He put a hand on my shoulder, looking me in my eyes with an intensity that was slightly intimidating.

“Once you start training, I can’t show any kindness towards you. I’ll have to treat you like I would any recruit, cold and apathetic. It’s nothing personal, but I can’t show any favoritism or Clarus will never pass you.”

“Yeah, got it.”

I’d been hoping I could at least have one friendly face with me as I train, but I was wrong. I’d be completely alone in this.

“Good.”

He let go of my shoulder and opened the doors, revealing a courtyard filled with training gear: weapons, shields, targets, the whole nine yards. There were a few recruits utilizing the grounds, but they immediately stopped and stood at attention when they saw Cor.

“At ease. Resume your training.”

They returned to what they had been doing, but they kept an eye on Cor and especially me. I could tell that these were younger recruits, maybe twelve or thirteen, but they were as big as me, if not a bit bigger. Then again, I’m not that big myself. We walked through a single door on the other side of the courtyard, entering what seemed to be a sort of mess hall/living area. It wasn’t what I had expected at all. I’d been expecting an almost dilapidated room, but it was pristine. The tables were shining, and the living area looked like it had never been touched. To my surprise, there was a game system and a pretty decent library of games. I looked to Cor for an explanation.

“Certain games improve reflex time, strategic planning, and hand eye coordination. It also increases the unity between the recruits when they play together. Builds a stronger bond as a team, and they work together better.”

To our left and right were two long halls. The hall on the right was labelled ‘Girls Hall’. We turned left down the hall that was labelled ‘Boys Hall’.  There were rooms lining the walls; it was probably where the recruits slept. I noticed pretty quickly that every room had one bed, and only a few had doors.

“Uhm, are they replacing the doors or something?”

“No. Doors and privacy are considered a privilege. The only doors most recruits have are in the bathrooms. Rooms have two areas: one that has the bed, a chest for belongings, a desk, and a sparring dummy. We encourage training as often as you can. The other area is the bathroom. The only recruits that get doors to their rooms are the ones who earn it. The best of the group. The top five of the group are allowed to have doors. They usually keep the door for the majority of their training. If you’re in the top five, it’s near impossible for someone to take that from you. That’s where you’ll have to be if you want to make it. Because you’re joining later in the training, you’re gonna have to start strong and stay strong to get there.”

“Great. Uhm, Cor, do they know about… my ‘condition’?”

“Only the head trainers do.”

“That doesn’t include Clarus, does it?”

“It does, I’m afraid. I don’t expect him to give you a hard time about it, though. He’s hard on the recruits, but there are lines he doesn’t cross.”

We stopped at a room near the end of the hall.

“This is yours for the next three years. After today, you’re a recruit. You won’t see much of me, but when you do, don’t try to talk to me, don’t even look to me. Just do what the others do. I’ll have to be hard on you, but it’s so you can make it through. When Noctis and the others come back, you won’t be as alone, but try to at least get to know some of these recruits.”

“Okay. I’ll try. Can you keep the guys updated on my progress? I don’t want them to worry. Especially Ignis. He’ll deny it, but he worries about us more than anything.”

“Of course. They’ll be able to see how well you’re doing. And I can’t promise anything, but I might be able to pull some strings and get you permission to contact them occasionally.”

“Really?!”

“Like I said, I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try.”

“Okay. Thanks, Cor. I guess I don’t completely despise you anymore.”

“Well, I’ll take what I can get. Good luck, Y/N. It’ll be hard, but your friends and I all believe you can do this. We wouldn’t have brought you here otherwise.”

“Yeah. Goodbye, Cor.”

“Goodbye, Y/N.”


	12. Hell, yeah! Burger Day!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reader gets a very special welcome from a very special person, and meets his fellow recruits. Maybe Crownsguard training won't be so shitty after all.
> 
> (Disclaimer: This chapter is not all about burgers, as the title may suggest. You will understand at the end. This has been a burger PSA with ya boi, Hiddlestoner0107.)

After standing in the doorway for a minute, I slowly entered the room-my room. It was fairly simple, but it was better than I’d expected. I’d expected communal bathrooms, dilapidated living areas, and dark, bare rooms, but this place continued to surprise me. The room I was in even had a new office chair. I opened the chest at the end of my bed and placed my neatly folded clothes inside. I set my drawing stuff in the desk drawers and I put my toiletries in the bathroom. I saw a large cork board hanging on the wall above the bed. There was a small tin of wall tacks on the desk. I had an idea. I took out my drawing pad and carefully tore my drawings from it. I tacked them up on the board, taking the time to carefully position them to my liking. When I finished, the room already felt a bit more like home. As soon as I thought that, my heart clenched. I hadn’t had a home since I was brought here from my world. With the guys, we travelled around. They had the palace to call home, but I had nowhere. I decided to not get used to this. It was only for three years, then I’d be on the road again. I wasn’t quite sure what to do, so I made my way to the training yard. A few more recruits had joined the others, but there were still only about fifteen. When they heard the door open, they all stopped and turned to look at me. I kept my gaze forward and considered which weapon I felt like practicing with. I couldn’t swing a sword to save my life, and god knows I couldn’t throw a javelin. My eyes rested on a simple wooden bow. I picked it up, testing its weight in my hand.  It was about four feet long, and when I strung it, it took a significant amount of my strength to pull the string back. I could pull it, however, so I grabbed the quiver of arrows and an arm brace. I headed over to the targets, and I could still feel everyone’s eyes on me. I stopped about thirty feet from a target and strapped on the arm brace. I nocked an arrow, my hands shaking slightly from the anxiety of looking stupid. As I raised the bow, I took a few deep breaths to steady myself. I aimed and let the arrow fly. It landed in the space between the bullseye and the smallest red line. It wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty good. Satisfied with my target practice, I retrieved the arrow and moved to a practice dummy. I stood thirty feet away, and nocked another arrow. I aimed for the dummy’s head. I’d never shot at a dummy with a bow, but I needed to prove myself to these recruits. I took a few calming breaths and I aimed for the crudely drawn eye. As soon as I had it lined up, I let it loose. Time seemed to slow down, the anticipation growing by the second. With a soft thud, the arrow pierced the dummy’s eye. I let out a breath I didn’t realise I was holding. I went to retrieve the arrow, and when I turned around, Clarus was there. I jumped slightly, scoffing in annoyance.

“You seem jittery. Surprised you made that shot considering how much you were shaking.”

“I know for a fact that I wasn’t shaking at all. Your scare tactics won’t work on me,  _ sir. _ I  _ will _ become a member of the Crownsguard, even if it means I have to work ten times as hard as any of these recruits.”

“If all you can do is shoot a stationary target with a wooden bow, you won’t make it past tomorrow.”

He wasn’t far off. I couldn’t do much of anything. I’d only had two months practice in archery, and that’s the skill I was best at. Of course, I wouldn’t let that stop me. I knew my friends would be proud of me for even making a month in training, but I wanted to show them I could be better. I wanted to show  _ myself _ I could be better.

“I’ll make it past tomorrow. And the next day, and the next day and the next. I’ll make it these next three years, and I’ll be in the top of this class. Just you wait. I’ll be almost as good as Gladio when I’m done here.”

For a split second, I saw anger in his eyes. He concealed it behind laughter, though.

“You think you could ever hope to compare to my son? He and his friends filled your soft little head with delusions of grandeur. You’ll be lucky to make it into a squadron when I’m through with you.”

I was so ready to tell him all the things he could do with his squadron when I heard the other recruits rush about. Clarus turned to see what was happening, and I peered around him. It was the king. I’d never seen him before, but there was no mistaking this man for anything less than royalty. It wasn’t just the way everyone rushed to stand at attention, he had an air about him that I saw in Noctis, only his was almost suffocating. I could practically hear Clarus’ heartbeat from where I stood, but he kept his composure.

“Your majesty. To what do we owe this pleasure?”

“It’s not every day a sixteen year old is recruited. Let alone by the Immortal himself. I wanted to personally meet the young man Cor spoke so highly of.”

“Your majesty, I believe Cor was mistaken. This recruit is nowhere near what Cor said he was.”

“I think I’d like to be the judge of that, Clarus.”

Clarus looked pretty uncomfortable with that, but he stepped aside, allowing the king to approach me. After a moment of frozen awe, I bowed deeply.

“Your majesty. I’m honoured you would come here to meet me, but my instructor is right. I probably couldn’t hope to live up to how the Immortal described me.”

“Rise up, child, and let me see your face.”

I slowly stood straight, holding my chin slightly high. The king studied me for what felt like eternity.

“I can see why you easily befriended my son and his friends, and why Cor spoke so highly of you. You have the same air about you as I did when I was younger, and as my son has now. If you can prove yourself to Clarus as you have the marshal, I have no doubt you could be one of the best Crownguard soldiers we’ve had.”

He turned to Clarus.

“I expect you will train this one just as you have the others.”

I got the feeling he was onto Clarus. I could tell Clarus felt the same when he paled.

“Yes, your majesty. He will be trained like any other recruit.”

“Good. Wouldn’t want you breaking him any more than the others, as you’ve had a tendency to do in the past.”

That confirmed my suspicions. I swear I could almost see through Clarus’s skin as he nodded in reply. The king nodded, then turned back to me.

“Train well, and train quickly. Whether you pass or not, my son will need you by his side soon enough.”

I was left to wonder what the hell that meant as the king left the courtyard. As soon as those doors closed, the familiar feeling of everyone’s eyes on me returned. Only this time, Clarus’s intense gaze joined them.

“You have powerful allies. As much as I don’t like it, perhaps the king is right. Such high praise from both the marshal and the king can’t be ignored. I look forward to training you. Who knows? Perhaps you could go on to be one of the best.”

I was surprised at his sudden change in attitude. The king here definitely had more influence than any king or queen in my universe. Clarus left me, entering the barracks. As soon as he left, a few recruits approached me. They were surprisingly diverse, in all aspects. The girl, she seemed to be the only one at the moment, was fairly large, her deep brown hair pulled back into a tight bun. Her hazel eyes, however, were soft and welcoming, shining against her dark skin. The boy to her left was about the same size. He had brown hair as well, though it had a reddish hint to it, complementing his tan skin in an unusual way. His amber eyes were hard, but they seemed brittle. There was a much larger boy to his left. He had sandy blonde hair that that fell onto fair skin. But his eyes were dark, almost black. However, they didn’t resemble a void or an emotionless pit. No, there was laughter in those dark eyes, as if this boy was always thinking of some hilarious joke. To the girl’s right was the most average boy you would ever meet. His complexion was average, his brown hair was dull and flat. He was an average size and average height. The only thing not average about him were his grey-blue eyes. They constantly shifted, like a storm on a jetstream; unpredictable, and terrifyingly beautiful. The girl seemed to be the ‘leader’ of their group, seeing as she addressed me first. She had what would be described as a ‘typical American’ accent.

“Well, that was interesting. I’ve never seen Clarus so scared. I’m Jolie. This is Aiden.”

She gestured to the tan boy.

“That’s Gerald.”

The fair skinned boy waved.

“And that’s Hayden.”

The average boy gave me a small smile.

“You got any idea why Clarus was giving you a hard time?”

“Jolie, you should at least ask him his name first.”

Aiden smiled apologetically at me.

“She tends to get ahead of herself.”

“Oh, shut up. But yeah, he’s right. What are you called?”

This was my chance to prove myself. This was my chance to be cool.

“My name’s Y/N.”

Nailed it.

“Nice. So, do you?”

“Yeah. When Cor brought me in, Clarus and I bumped into each other. I didn’t realise who he was until after I’d told him off and Cor was pulling me away. I guess he doesn’t take to kindly to me hanging out with his son.”

“Shit, that’s right. The king said you’d befriended Prince Noctis. How the hell did you manage that?”

I anxiously rubbed the back of my neck.

“Uh, long story. Like, really long. Summary of it is, I bumped into them, they thought I was a spy, Ignis convinced them I wasn’t. Gladio and I hated each other for like, five months, now we’re all besties. Ignis even let me make dinner once.”

“That’s a terrible summary.”

“I’m afraid it’s too complicated to explain much further.”

“Come on, Jolie. Just drop it.”

“Aiden, you are no fun. Ever.”

“That’s a lie and you know it, Jolie.”

“Gerald, what do you know?”

“Guys, maybe you should leave your domestic bickering for when you won’t freak the new dude out.”

Hayden smiled, obviously amused by his friends despite his words.

“I swear, they’re all old and married. They bicker like this all the time.”

“Nah, it’s cool. Me and the guys do the same. Except our bickering usually ends up with either me or Prompto getting a noogie from Gladio. Sometimes Noctis will get it.”

“Man, it must be so cool to be friends with them.”

“Eh, they’re just like anyone else I’ve ever met. Only difference is the badass car. And no, Ignis never lets me drive it. Hell, he rarely lets Noct drive it.”

“Huh. Well, welcome to the Crownsguard training. Try not to die, it makes the rest of us look bad.”

I took a step back, startled.

“Jolie, seriously. No one dies, Y/N. Jolie just like to scare the new recruits.”

A sharp tone split the air.

“Well, that’s the lunch bell. You can sit with us. I promise, we don’t bite.”

Jolie headed off towards the barracks, followed by her friends. Gerald turned back and waved me on.

“Come on, dude. Today’s burger day!”

Well, shit. I wasn’t missing burger day. I jogged to catch up with them. I had a good feeling about these guys. I felt like we could all do well together, and maybe, this just might not suck so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hey, hey. Hope you didn't think I was kidding when I said chapter spam. This whole fic has 170 pages on google docs (and counting. still writing the very end), and we've just now broken a hundred. Strap yourselves in, my dudes, dudettes, and every dude variation in between. This is just getting good.


	13. Clarus? More like ClarASS, amirite? (I actually love Clarus, please don't kill me)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two years later, reader is obviously top of his class. (Suck it, Clarus.) He gets a visit from his biffles. Good shit. I like it.

When Cor came to me during our lunch break and said that Iggy, Noct, Prompto and Gladio were back, I nearly choked on my sandwich. My friends seemed concerned, When Cor gives someone news, it’s almost never good. I held up a finger as I took a drink to clear my throat. My voice was slightly hoarse, both because of my choking, and my excitement.

“The guys are back. Cor and I had a deal that if I was in the top five by the time they got back, I could see them as soon as they got to the palace.”

Jolie squealed, grabbing my hand.

“That’s awesome, Y/N! I bet they’ll be really proud to hear that you’ve been the top recruit for a year!”

I squeezed her hand, my excitement seeping through. My other friends were happy for me too, Aiden especially. He and I had become really good friends.

“Man, I’ve missed them.”

I thought for a second, then I remembered something Cor had told me before he and I left from Lestallum two years ago.

“Hey, guys. Gladio’s gonna be training me now. We.. we won’t be seeing as much of each other.”

I could tell that brought all of them down. Jolie let go of my hand. The recruits trained for almost the entire day. The only other times we saw each other were during meals and downtime before bed. We’d been lucky to be put in the same group, but me and Gladio were going to be training one on one. I felt a hand on my shoulder, grabbing my attention. It was Cor.

“They’re here. Grab your drawings and come say hi.”

I turned to my friends, and all our smiles had returned. I ran to my room, I’d finished all the portraits, and I’d coloured them, thanks to Iris’s contribution of coloured pencils. I grabbed them off the corkboard and dashed back to the mess hall. I skidded to a stop in front of Cor, practically shaking with joy. He shook his head, hiding a smile. We left the barracks and crossed the courtyard to the doors that led into the palace. After a few twists and turns, we made our way to the main hall, and standing at the main doors were my friends, who I hadn’t seen for two years. I hastily handed the drawings to Cor and ran full speed down the hallway. I could feel happy tears streaming down my cheeks as I tackled Gladio in a hug. He spun me around and set me down. I hugged each of my friends just as tightly.

“Hi, guys. In case you couldn’t tell, I missed you a bit.”

“That is the understatement of the century.”

“You got that right, Iggy. So, Cor told us you’ve been top of your class for a year?”

“Yeah! I’ve been doing a lot better than I thought I would. I even made friends! We’re the top five, so we’ll all make it into the Crownsguard.”

“We’re proud of you, Y/N. My dad even said he was amazed by your progress.”

I stared wide eyed at Noctis.

“The king said that?”

“Yeah. From what Cor’s told us, you’ve been doing great.”

At that moment, Cor came up behind me, handing me the drawings I’d shoved at him. I smiled sheepishly and took them. I handed my friends their respective portraits.

“I started working on these about two months before y’all left. I had enough time between training to finish them.”

As they looked slack jawed at the drawings, I swear I saw tears in Ignis and Prompto’s eyes.

“Holy Six, these are awesome! Thanks, Y/N!”

“Of course, Prom. I wanted to do something special for you guys, so I did what I do best. I drew.”

“We know damn well you sing even better than you draw.”

Cor huffed in surprise.

“Y/N, you can sing?”

“No. Gladio’s just delusional from the awesomeness of my drawing skills.”

“You can, too. One time, there was a karaoke night at this one restaurant, and Y/N made everyone cry. The manager gave him free food for a year.”

“Prompto, I swear to god, if you don’t shut your mouth..”

“Well, that’s good to hear. Recruits are having a talent show a month from now. I’ll be sure to sign you up.”

“Cor, please. I’ll actually die.”

“Nah, you’ll be fine.”

I scoffed, acting annoyed, but honestly? I was the happiest I’d been in two years. I hadn’t been particularly depressed, but seeing my friends, my brothers in all but blood, had lifted my spirits beyond my imagination. I was pretty sure they were pretty happy to see me too.

“Have you been taking care of yourself?”

“Yes, Iggy. Cor made sure of that.”

“Of course. Making sure a recruit is healthy isn’t showing favoritism, after all.”

“Thank you, Cor. Now, Y/N.”

“Yeah?”

“Cor has managed to get you the rest of today and the weekend off from training, since you’ve been doing so well. I believe we are long overdue for a road trip.”

I almost started sobbing on the spot. Cor hadn’t told me about that. I turned around and embraced him.

“Thank you, Cor. This means a lot to me.”

“You’re welcome. You’ve more than earned it.”

I let go and started back down the hall towards the barracks to go pack some stuff.

“Y/N, where are are you going?”

“I gotta get my stuff.”

“We have a bag for you in the trunk.”

“Oh, okay. Can I say bye to my friends?”

“I’ll tell them where you went. You go have fun.”

“Alright. Thanks again Cor!”

I followed Iggy and the others to the Regalia. She looked just as beautiful as the first day I saw her. I ran a hand along the side, her hydrophobic sealant smooth as satin under my palm.

“Why don’t you just marry it already?”

“Shut up, Prompto. Why don’t you marry Cindy already?”

“Touche.”

I hopped in the back between Gladio and Noctis. It felt familiar, but it felt weird at the same time. Iggy took off towards Hammerhead, cautious as ever. Noct climbed up on the back of the seat, as per usual. Gladio had his nose in a book, so I tried to climb up with him. I guess I wasn’t as sneaky as I thought, because Gladio pulled me down by the arm with one hand.

“We’ve had this discussion.”

“You’re still no fun.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“You want a repeat of last time?”

I huffed, crossing my arms.

“You know, you look a lot different.”

Noct’s sudden statement surprised me.

“Uhm, I guess I’ve grown a bit, gained a bit of muscle.”

“It’s not just that. You look more.. mature. Kind of relaxed.”

“I was always relaxed.”

I heard a huff of laughter from Ignis.

“Got something you want to add, Ignis?”

“You constantly looked as if you would run at the slightest disturbance. You were wound tighter than a spring on some days. There were times you weren’t as tense, but you definitely did not seem relaxed.”

“Hmmph.”

“You’ve finally got a beard.”

I stared at Gladio, then brought my hand up to my face. I never really used the mirror in my bathroom, so I hadn’t seen my reflection much except in glass or a sword. Sure enough, there was a carpeting of facial hair. It wasn’t anything bushy, but it was past the point of stubble.

“Even more of a reason for you to let me sit up there with Noctis.”

“No. Never happening.”

“Ugh. You know, I could totally kick your ass now if I wanted to.”

“Two years of training, even if you’re the best, won’t get you even close to my skill level.”

“I bested you twice without any training.”

“Beginner’s luck.”

“Psh. You’re just scared.”

I heard him close his book and before I could react, his arm was around my neck and he was practically scalping me with his knuckles.

“Ow! Get off me, you fuck!”

“You think I’m scared of you?”

“No! Jesus, man! You’re fucking rubbing my skin off my skull!”

He let me go, and I fixed my hair.

“Y/N, they may have let you swear in training, but you know our rules.”

“He was gonna scalp me with his knuckles!”

“Understandable, but try to keep your cursing under control.”

“Fine.”

I slugged Gladio in the arm and scooted to the other side of the car. He started to move his feet but I glared him down. What really stopped him was when I put my feet up. He shrugged, going back to reading his book. Noctis tapped me on the shoulder, so I moved back to the middle and put my feet on the floor.

We made it to the Haven near Hammerhead in about an hour and a half. Gladio and Ignis set up the camping gear while Prompto, Noctis, and I messed around. After I whupped Prompto at arm wrestling, Noct handed me my chocobo whistle. I immediately blew it and Ailè came running up to me. I wrapped my arms around her feathered neck, and she rested her head on mine. I rode her around a bit, then we headed back to camp and hung out. Ignis made garula kebabs and Gladio ate most of them. Prompto took about a million pictures, several of which were taken to catch Noctis making a weird face. He got several. I finished the night off with a horror story, much to Prompto’s disdain. I slept in the larger tent with Gladio and Ignis while Noct and Prompto took the smaller tent. I’d volunteered for last watch, so I could watch the sun come up.

 Ignis woke me up at about three in the morning for my watch. Before I got settled, I searched through my bag for my switchblade and my daggers. I climbed down from the haven, inspecting the nearby trees for just the right branch for carving. I’d taken up the craft when I saw Gerald carving one night during down time. It took a while for me to get the hang of it, but once I did, I wasn’t half bad. I found a branch of the right size for the carving I was planning on. I nocked the branch where I needed to break it. I called Ailè over and used her to climb up on the branch. I sawed a bit further into the branch then I leaned forward on it. It snapped, the sound startling Ailè. She dashed a few feet away, leaving me with a fifteen pound branch on top of me. I pushed it off, sending a glare towards Ailè. I sawed into the other cut I made until I could cleanly break the branch. I was planning to do a moogle, so it needed to be pretty big. It was as big around as my calf and about a foot long. I trekked back to the haven, where I retrieved my carving knife from Ignis’s cooking bag. It was pretty sharp, so he made me put it with the utensils. That way it wouldn’t rip my bag or clothes. I set my daggers on the ground next to me and settled in a foldout chair. As the night waned and the  sun turned the sky every colour imaginable, the moogle came to life. As the others came out of the tents, I carved the last few details into the moogle. There were shavings all over my lap and all around me. The finished product was about the size of a crow; a bit smaller than I wanted it, but still a good size. I showed it to Iggy as he approached me. He looked it over, seemingly impressed. He handed it back.

“It seems you’ve picked up skills other than fighting during your time with the Crownsguard recruits.”

“Yeah, my friend Gerald taught me this. I just about cut my hand off three months ago.”

I showed him the giant scar running from my fingertip down to the middle of my palm. It was jagged and still slightly pink.

“And yet you continued.”

“Yeah. It actually wasn’t my fault, believe it or not. I’d put in a request for carving wood, and the person had picked up a piece of hollow wood. I was just starting on a tree when the carving knife slid right through the wood and cut open my hand.”

“Well, that’s one way to stain wood.”

“Prompto, that is no laughing matter.”

“It’s fine, Iggy. I actually laughed when it happened. The pain didn’t really hit me until I went to an instructor and was like, ‘Hey, uhm, I kinda cut my hand open. Can I have some help?’. He was new. I scared him off. Apparently it’s not normal to be that calm about your hand bleeding profusely. Cor was also not happy, but I explained it him. He made sure the errand person was educated about what kind of wood was for carving.”

“You scared off an instructor. I’m sure that made a great impression.”

“It did. I was commended on my ability to stay calm in a stressful situation. Especially since the instructor was the one freaking out. I ended up having to do my own stitches. He was the only instructor in the mess hall at the time.”

“Okay, just tell us the whole story.”

“I’d rather not hear it.”

“God, you’re such a mother hen, Ignis.”

“I am not. It just seems that you four aren’t careful enough to take care of yourselves, so I have to do it.”

“Come on, Iggy. Just this one time?”

“Noctis…”

“Iggy…”

He sighed, sitting in a chair and crossing his legs.

“Just this once. If I ever hear this story being told again, there will be consequences.”

“Thanks! Okay, everyone, gather around. You’re about to hear a story of action, blood, and unrelenting panic.”

“Way to sell it.”

“Shut it, Gladio. Okay, so it all started when Gerald was carving wood one night during down time. I asked him to show me how. It was kind of hard at first, but I got the hang of it soon enough. Eventually, I got good enough that I could do it by myself, without Gerald having to instruct me. I put in a request for some carving wood, and I got some the next week. Well, one day during lunch, I got bored. My friends had decided to train instead of eating lunch, so I was alone. I headed down to my room after asking the instructor. I know I’m not supposed to, but he was new, so I figured he wouldn’t know all the rules. I started carving on a piece of oak. I’d just about finished the trunk on the tree I was carving. The roots were proving difficult, so I turned the piece upside down to get a better angle. Well, I was trying to make a larger root when the knife slid through the wood. I was using a good bit of force, so it went right through the other side and halfway down my hand before I dropped the wood and the knife. After letting out a good stream of f-bombs and other colourful words, I held my hand to my chest and ran back to the mess hall. I showed my hand to the instructor, and he almost passed out. He ran off god knows where. By now, the rest of the recruits had noticed. Someone handed me a cloth and I wrapped my hand to help stop the bleeding. Of course it didn’t work. I waited about ten minutes for the instructor, but he never showed. Turns out he’d tripped in the main hall and knocked himself out. Angie had a sewing kit, so I asked her if I could use a needle. I borrowed some fishing line from Aiden before, so I had her run to my room to get that as well.  Jackie had a first aid kit in her room, so she snuck me in. I cleaned it as much as I could bear to. Angie came in with the sewing kit and fishing line. She’d borrowed a lighter from Joshua so I could sterilize the needle. I had Angie hold my hand down and Jackie hold a tourniquet on my forearm. Considering I’d never done it before, I stitched my hand up pretty well. When I was on the last few stitches, Clarus found us. He looked mad at first, but then he saw what we were doing. He told me to finish up then follow him to the infirmary. I finished up the stitches and thanked the girls for their help. The doctor in the infirmary said I did pretty good. He asked me why I’d done my stitches by myself. I told him that I waited for the instructor for ten minutes, but by that time I’d bled quite a bit, so I had Angie and Jackie help me stitch my hand up.”

“They let you guys have that stuff?”

“Well, officially, no. But they kind of turn a blind eye to it as long as you don’t use anything to hurt yourself or others.”

“What the hell would the kid have a lighter for?”

“He makes things out of recycled plastic. He hand makes a mold, then he melts the plastic, pours it in the mold and boom! The things he makes are awesome. He needs the lighter to melt the plastic. He makes a sort of furnace in his bathtub with the lighter and hairspray. He even made a ventilation system.”

“They’re a lot less strict than when I was training.”

“They try to encourage our creativity as long as it doesn’t get in the way of our training. It helps us to have something else to focus on. Kind of gives our brains and our bodies a break from training.”

“I’m surprised they let you keep carving after that.”

“It was obvious that the incident wouldn’t have happened if the errand dude had gotten the right wood.”

“Yeah. But like you said, Cor made sure it wouldn’t happen again.”

“Yes. You seem to have grown on him.”

“Well, the feeling’s mutual. Anyways, we got anywhere to be?”

“Actually, we were thinking about just hanging around here all weekend.”

“That’s completely fine with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU GET A CHAPTER, YOU GET A CHAPTER, EVERYONE GETS A FUCKING CHAPTER!! DID SOMEONE SAY CHAPTER SPAM?!?! FUCK YEAH!!
> 
> (i've had like, seven king size milky ways. send help.)


	14. I Knew You Were Trouble When You Walked In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fuck Ardyn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is where things start to really stray from canon. I tried as much as I could to keep to the canon story, but I had to deviate quite a bit to have my plot fit in there. I guess it's almost like an AU, but a lot of stuff is the same. As always, comments and criticism are always welcome! :)
> 
> Also Y/N/N = your nickname.

As we approached the palace later that weekend, I could feel my heart sinking a bit. Sure, I would see my friends occasionally, but it felt like it wouldn’t be enough. I’d get to see Gladio pretty often, though. He was taking over my training. I was waiting to see his reaction at how much better I’d gotten. Cor was waiting for us on the palace steps, talking to a soldier, probably a patrol man or a guard. When we approached them, Cor sent him off.

“You’re late.”

“We had to take a lizard out of the undercarriage. We started the car, but Y/N heard a weird noise He crawled under there, and ten minutes later, he came out with a lizard.”

“Well, I wasn’t gonna let it get ground up in the engine, or run over on the road.”

“Clarus won’t care what your excuse is. Just because you’re the top of your class doesn’t mean he’ll be any easier on you.”

“Yeah, I know.”

I turned to say goodbye to my friends.

“I’ll see you guys later.”

“Bye, Y/N.”

“Goodbye.”

“See ya this afternoon, Gladio.”

“See ya, Y/N.”

I followed Cor down to the barracks, where I received a warm welcome from my friends.

“So, how’d it go?”

Jolie never wasted time with greetings.

“It was great! We hung out at a haven all weekend. I told them the story of my carving mishap. I swear, Ignis was about to tie me up and never let me out of his sight again. He’s such a mother hen. We had a pretty good reunion. Gladio and I start training this afternoon.”

“Man, you’re so lucky! I’d give anything to train with the prince’s shield!”

“Jolie, are you sure you’d just train?”

Hayden wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Shut up, Hayden!”

We all laughed a bit, even Jolie. We paused when we heard the lunch bell. We all looked at each other, then raced to the mess hall. Whoever got there last had to get everyone’s drinks and refills. Aiden was usually last, though he surprised us sometimes. In good spirits, I decided to willingly lose. We all grabbed our lunches and I got the drinks.

“And then, get this, he calls the cashier an ‘incompetent, worthless ingrate’. I’d never seen Ignis that pissed, and I kinda felt bad for the cashier, but it was funny as fuck!”

My friends burst out laughing, Hayden almost choking on his tea. I laughed along with them until they suddenly stopped, sitting up straight and looking down at the table.

“Guys, the fuck are you doing? You’re acting like Bahamut himself is here.”

I heard a regal voice reply from behind me.

“Not quite, but close.”

I turned around, and the king was standing behind me. I stumbled over myself as I kneeled on the ground.

“Your highness. Please excuse my language. I didn’t know you were here.”

“There’s no need for apologies. The council meetings are more raucous than this mess hall has ever been. You may rise.”

I stood up, keeping my gaze lowered respectfully.

“From what I’ve heard, you’ve been the best of your class for a year, and before that you were in the top five, correct?”

“Yes, your highness.”

“I’ve met with your instructors, and they all agree you’ve improved immensely since you began training two years ago. They believe you’ve even improved enough to graduate to the Crownsguard. Along with the others in the top eight, of course.”

I kept my face neutral, but my heart leaped. My friends and I would be graduating this October. That meant we had about three months to prepare. The top eight in every graduating class were put into Crownsguard or some other higher ranking positions, and the rest of the class were either put into the regular ranks or sent home.

“This is a great honour, your majesty, and I will make sure to repay your graciousness tenfold through my service to your son.”

“My son will be lucky to have you by his side. May the Six guide you through your training, and know that you have the support of the royal family with you.”

Those two sentences meant more to me than an entire speech would from any great leader back home. With a nod to me and my friends, the king left the mess hall, everyone stunned by his words. I suddenly felt a hard clap on my back. I turned around and was surprised to see Cor behind me.

“You have exceeded everyone’s expectations, Y/N. If there is anyone who deserves the king’s support, it is you. I’m proud of you.”

I was getting hit left and right with high praise from very influential people, and I didn’t know how to feel.

“Thank you, Cor. I’m glad I didn’t gut you when I first met you. You turned out alright.”

He smiled, and huffed through his nose.

“I appreciate the gesture. I can’t train future Crownsguard soldiers with my intestines on the ground. Though, I would have had you on the ground before you even drew your daggers.”

I turned my head to the mess hall entrance when the door opened. Gladio walked in, talking to Clarus. When he saw me he raised a hand in greeting. I mimicked the gesture, waiting for him to come to me. He and his dad stopped, and Clarus said something that Gladio didn’t seem to like very much. Gladio started to argue but Clarus cut him off and walked away. Gladio rolled his eyes and came over to Cor and I.

“You ready to start training?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. I’m sure Crownsguard training can’t be much worse than what Clarus put us through.”

Cor laughed.

“Oh, you couldn’t be farther from the truth. Most of this training will be mentally strenuous.”

“How so?”

“You’ll see. Now go with Gladio. You need to show him what you’ve learned.”

“Alright. I’ll see you later. Try not to break my friends too much.”

Gladio led me out to the courtyard, then through the main door. When we started walking down the palace halls, I got confused.

“Where are we going?”

“You don’t really think me and the guys practice in the recruits’ area, do you?”

“Well, I thought you and I would be.”

“Nah, it’s easier to go somewhere else.”

I shrugged my shoulders as he led me to a large gym. It was bare for the most part, but it did have a rack for weapons and a water fountain.

“Alright, kid. Show me what you got.”

“You ready to get your ass kicked, Gladdy?”

“I wouldn’t count on it, Y/N/N.”

As soon as he finished his sentence, I rushed him, grabbing his torso and shoving him to the ground. He was quick to pin me on my stomach, my arm twisted behind my back.

“Deja vu, anyone?”

I scowled, then slammed my head back, hitting the bridge of his nose and causing him to stumble backwards. I flipped around, putting him in the same position, but keeping my nose away from his head. I sat on his back so he couldn’t get any leverage to bring his legs up. I hadn’t planned on him using his other arm to grab my ankle and pull me off of him. He rolled over as I fell off, taking away the leverage I had with his arm pinned. I quickly got to my feet, kicking his shin as he stood. He stumbled a bit, and I took that opportunity to get him on the ground again. I wasn’t gonna be able to keep him pinned, so I’d have to wear him out. Of course, if I wore myself out first, that wouldn’t do anything for me. So, I kept on the defensive, keeping two steps ahead of him. He didn’t seem to be getting tired, so I switched tactics. I went for a hard offense, becoming a whirlwind of punches and kicks, not giving him the chance to try to throw a punch,. That was going to tire me out pretty quickly though. I opted for switching between defensive maneuvers and a hard offense. Gladio quickly caught on though, and he went for a hard offense. I wouldn’t be able to keep my defense up much longer, let alone try to throw anything back at him. As a last resort, I dropped to the ground, rolling behind him. I jumped on his back and wrapped my arm around his neck in a chokehold. After about two minutes, he tapped my arm, signalling his submission. I let go and he gasped for air a few times for standing up.

“Not bad. I’m surprised you lasted that long.”

I looked at the clock. We’d been fighting for almost forty-five minutes. It had only felt like ten at the most.

“Hmm. Well, I was honestly just about to give up. I was getting tired.”

“I can tell, you’re breathing pretty hard. Go get a drink. We’ll take a fifteen minute break.”

“Nah, I’m fine. I just need like, five minutes.”

“Get some water and sit down. Iggy will kill me if he hears you passed out because I pushed you too hard.”

“Ugh, you guys worry too much.”

“If we didn’t you’d be in a lot worse shape.”

“Yeah, I’d really be just miserable.” I said in a flat tone.

“Hmph. You’re not too tired to sass me.”

“I’m never too tired to sass you. I always have the energy for that”

 

* * *

 

 

A few months after my graduation, we were searching for royal arms. The prophecy was coming true, and we were scrambling. For some reason, the guys allowed Ardyn to help us on our search for royal arms. I was livid, but of course, I didn’t get any say. Surely they could see this guy couldn’t be trusted. God, I could practically _feel_ the malicious and pretentious aura around him. One night, we were all  sat around a campfire, and I was telling the story of the time I managed to make Cor speechless in training.

“And then I said, ‘Sure, whatever you say, sweetcheeks.’ Of course, I never meant to say it out loud, but there it was. Cor’s jaw was practically on the ground, my friends could barely stifle their laughter, and the other instructor looked terrified. I kind of expected it, but I had to do an extra hour of training as punishment. Oh, but by go- the Six, it was worth it.”

I almost said God, and that could have been bad. Of course Ardyn didn’t know I wasn’t from this universe, so if I said God, that could have caused problems. In any case, he still had a smart ass comment.

“You sure have a way with words. I’m sure that does you more good than those daggers at your sides.”

“Excuse you? Listen here, you fuckwad. I graduated the Crownsguard training in two years, half of that I was top of my class. So let me make something clear. I could cut you to pieces with these daggers while I break your self esteem and demolish your ego with my words. Don’t push me, Izunia. I swear, I will break you.”

“Y/N, I suggest you retire for the night.”

“I’m not tired, Ignis. In fact, I’m going out.”

“You will do no such thing. You know what lurks in the night. You’d be dead before you had gone two miles from here.”

“I can handle myself.”

“You will remain here, and that is final.”

“Fine. I’ll get my anger out by beating his ass.”

I pointed at Ardyn.

“As fun as that would be, I have a policy against hurting children.”

“You say that as if you have any morals at all. You don’t fool me. You’d stab us in the back at a moment’s notice if you had the chance. You are a malicious, conniving, pretentious asshole, and I refuse to let you insult me any longer.”

“Y/N! Go to your tent!”

“No! Can’t any of you even see a bit of what he is? He might be helping us now, but I swear, he’s not our friend. He’s not an ally, and he most certainly doesn’t give a shit about Lucis!”

“I believe you should listen to your caretaker. Children that challenge authority never receive good things.”

In a split second I had my daggers out, ready to stab him in his stupid face. I was less than an inch away when Gladio grabbed me and held me back, kicking and flailing my arms. He disarmed me and practically dragged me to the tent by my arm.

“What the hell were you thinking?! You can’t just attack people like that, even people like him!”

“You can’t tell me that you trust him at all! He’s using us for something, and anyways, how does he know where the royal arms are, huh? A guy like him knowing where some of the most powerful weapons in this universe are? That doesn’t raise ANY red flags?”

“He doesn’t know where they are. However, he knows dungeons better than any of us, so we need him for that. You attacking him and threatening him doesn’t help us at all.”

“Gladio, I won’t stay around him any longer. I swear to every deity that is listening, I will take Ailé and a bag of provisions to Hammerhead, the palace, or Lestallum. Hell, I might head to Altissia. I just can’t bear to be around him. Just standing near him makes me feel physically sick. He has this.. aura around him that just radiates nothing but hatred, violence and pure evil.  And if he makes one more degrading or creepy remark towards me or any of you, I will gut him like the fucking vermin he is.”

“You aren’t going anywhere, and you aren’t gutting anyone. If you need to, you stick by me at all times, but you can’t leave.”

“I don’t need a bodyguard. I can take care of myself.”

“Yeah, I know. But that’s not what I meant. Sometimes, you feel safer if you’re near someone who you trust to keep you safe.”

I sighed heavily. Ardyn was having too big of an impact on me for my liking. I couldn’t place it, but everything about him was off in some way.

“Can I sleep with you and Iggy tonight? I know it’s stupid, but I want to be as far away from him as possible, and it’d just be for tonight.”

“Of course. Prompto can sleep with Noct.”

“Thanks Gladio. I know it’s childish, but Ardyn scares me. A lot.”

“It’s not childish to be scared. Especially when it comes to something like this. It’s just your instincts telling you he’s not good company.”

“Yet we keep him around.”

“Not for much longer. We only have two more royal arms to go, then he’s gone. Until then, no gutting and no bad mouthing.”

“Can I badmouth him when he’s not close enough to hear?”

“If he can’t hear you, you can say whatever the hell you want about him.”

“Fuck, yeah. Shit, I mean-aww fuck, gah!”

“Do I need to grab the saddle soap?”

“No, no. I’m good. I’d like to remain clueless about the taste of saddle soap.”

“Alright. Now, you head to mine and Ignis’ tent. We’re turning in pretty soon. We have to head out early tomorrow.”

“I still gotta stay in a tent?”

“Yes, and you’ll be sitting in the backseat again.”

“Aww man, I never get the front seat.”

“And why is that?”

“Cause I’m a little shit.”

Gladio ran a hand over his face, but I could see him smiling.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Now you behave and don’t tear up the tent. I’ll tell Prom he’s sleeping here.”

“Alright. I’ll probably be asleep when y’all turn in. I’m tired as fu- uhm, I’m tired. Night, Gladio.”

“Night, kid.”

He left the tent, and I followed suit after I grabbed my sleeping bag and my phone. I laid down in the larger tent, turning on my music and putting in my earbuds. The last tune I heard was Last to Know by Three Days Grace.


	15. I Told You He Was Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader has a dream that freaks him out. Ardyn is still a dick.

_ I spotted a glint of crimson dashing through the woods alongside me. I was clutching my side, trying to stem the bleeding in the gash. In my other hand, I had one of the ornate daggers my friends had given to me. My friends that were now dead. I leapt over a rotten log, only to tumble forward, rolling down a small hill. Each bump was agony, and it felt like eternity before I finally stopped rolling. My calves were burning and my chest was heaving. I wanted so bad to just lie there, but I heard a twig snap. I hauled myself up and took off. I wished I could call Ailè, but my whistle was in my bag back at camp. I spotted a road up ahead, where I could faintly make out the glint of the Regalia in the moonlight. Never had that car looked more beautiful. Wasting no time, I jumped over the door, kicking the car into gear and taking off. Driving was difficult, as my vision throbbed and the pain in my side was diverting my attention from the road. Suddenly, there was a figure in front of the car. I slammed the brakes, sending the car into a tailspin before it tumbled over itself, landing on its side. I fell out as soon as it stopped, the momentum carrying me a few yards. I saw heavy boots come into my rapidly deteriorating view. The owner of the boots bent down, and my gaze was met by Ardyn’s.  _

_ "Well, well. Looks you’ve taken quite a beating. Tell me. If your four well trained friends couldn’t stop me,  how did you think you could? I’ll tell you a secret.” _

_ He leaned down to whisper in my ear. _

_ “ _ **_No one can._ ** _ ” _

_ Ardyn chuckled to himself, obviously confident in his conquest of Lucis. He took the dagger from my hand with ease, poking the tip into my side. I screamed. My side was on fire, and he slowly sunk the blade further. _

_ “It’s rather ironic, isn’t it? The very blade your beloved friends gave you to protect yourself with is the blade that will be your end. Of course, it will be a slow end. You’ll have time to reflect on how you could have saved them. How you could have saved yourself. The Saviour of Lucis couldn’t even save his friends. You would have been a valuable asset, but instead you chose to be more trouble than you are worth, which really isn’t much. ” _

_ He swiftly jabbed the blade into my thigh, but I was too spent to do much more than cry.  He stood, walking away with a wave. _

_ “Goodbye little one. Perhaps you’ll see your friends soon.” _

_ He looked back over his shoulder at me, and his eyes were glowing red. _

_ “ _ **_In Hell._ ** _ ” _

I woke with a yell and sat up, my head in my hands. My heart was pounding and I was covered in a cold sweat. My side had a phantom ache and every muscle was tensed. I was shaking like a leaf when I heard rustling beside me. Still terrified from the dream, I tried getting away, but I was held back by strong arms. I kicked and flailed my arms, crying and begging whoever it was to let me go.

“Hey, hey! Y/N! It’s me. It’s Gladio! Hey, calm down. You’re alright.”

As soon as I heard him say it was him, I started crying even harder, but I stopped writhing. Instead, I threw my arms around him, still a bit scared this wasn’t real. I heard Ignis’ soft voice behind me, and I turned to hug him as well. They both seemed a bit surprised by this. I almost never had bad dreams anymore, and when I did, they were never this bad. I took turns holding both of their heads in my hands and looking at them intensely. I had to make sure this was real. When I was sure, I sat back down, tears starting to fall again.

“Y/N, what caused you to wake so violently?”

I swallowed a few times before I could talk.

“I.. you guys.. he.. you died. He killed you. He killed you with my dagger and tried to take me. He got me in my side, and I ran. I- he was right there. I couldn’t get away. I wrecked the car and he killed me. You guys were dead, and I could have saved you but I didn’t. I could have gone with him. He would have left you alone. He- I got you killed. You died. You.. you died.”

I broke into ugly sobs again, my whole body trembling with the force. Gladio pulled me into an embrace again, stroking my hair and trying to help me calm down. He and Ignis just talked to me for almost two hours before I finally stopped crying. I was still shaking a bit, but I wasn’t wracked with tears.

“I’m sorry. I know I don’t usually do this. I didn’t mean to wake you up, it’s just… it was so real. I felt the wound, and I felt the fear. I heard your yells and I smelled the blood. I tasted the asphalt. I saw him butcher you and then come after me. He called me ‘saviour’ and then killed me with my own blade. I lost my only family, and it felt as real as losing my world.”

“Y/N, who is this ‘he’?”

With a hard edge to my voice, I named him in the most malicious tone I could muster at that moment.

“ **Ardyn.** ”

“Ardyn? Surely you are mistaken.”

“Ignis, I know everything I saw in that dream too well. And I know that it was Ardyn who killed you. It was Ardyn who was going to burn Lucis to the ground. It was Ardyn.”

“You said he called you ‘saviour’.”

“Yeah. He was rambling on about how my death would be slow, and I could reflect on how I could have saved you. Then he said, ‘The Saviour of Lucis couldn’t even save his friends.’ Though he couldn’t have meant me. He probably meant Noct.”

“I dunno, Y/N/N. Why would he be mocking you, and then suddenly mock Noct?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s just a dream. A terrible one that will probably haunt me for years, but it’s just another dream with no meaning.”

“Hmm. Perhaps we could visit the palace and have them explain it. It may be nothing, but it is not uncommon for dreams, especially those like yours, to have a much deeper meaning.”

“No. We have to keep looking for the royal arms.”

“We don’t all have to go. One of us can go with you and the others stay behind.”

“No! I won’t leave any of you here with him.”

“Keep your voice down. It is still the middle of the night. I really think we should go to the palace, though. Now either we all go, excluding Ardyn of course, or one of us goes. Take your pick.”

I sighed. When Ignis set his mind on something, it was practically impossible to sway him.

“Fine. I hate it, but I’ll go with one of you. We have to keep searching for the royal arms, so some of us have to say behind.”

“Thank you. Who would you like to accompany you?”

“You. Noct needs to be here for the royal arms, Gladio needs to be here to keep Ardyn in his place, and they’ll need Prompto to keep them from killing each other.”

“It’s settled then. You and I will ride out tomorrow.”

“Okay. Good night, Ignis. Good night, Gladio.”

“Good night, Y/N.”

“G’night kid.”

 

* * *

 

 

I woke up when I smelled breakfast cooking. Everyone else was already up and chatting idly. I grabbed the pot of coffee and poured myself a cup.

“Well, well, look who decided to join us.”

“Noct, I’ll pour this hot coffee right down your shirt if you don’t shut up.”

“Oookay. I’m guessing you had a bad night.”

“Really? Never woulda guessed.”

My sour mood silenced the conversation for a bit, but it started back up again. I felt a sharp poke in my back, and I jumped so quickly I dropped my cup. I turned and I wasn’t too surprised to see Ailè behind me. I sighed, rubbing her beak before picking up my cup.

“You are the cause of so many of my coffee casualties, I should be getting compensation by now.”

I reached for the pot only to have another hand snatch it up right as I grabbed the handle. I looked up and wasn’t surprised to see Ardyn. I tensed up, my nightmare still fresh in my mind.

“So sorry. You’ll have to be quicker in the future.”

I took a deep breath. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction.

“Of course. Enjoy your coffee.”

I decided to plate up some bacon and eggs for myself, sitting apart from the group on the edge of the haven. I tried to meditate as Cor taught my class in training, but I couldn’t. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw my friends’ mangled bodies on the ground; Ardyn grinning like a cheshire cat with my bloodied dagger in his hand. I scarfed down my breakfast and rejoined the group.

“Ignis, when are we leaving?”

“We have some things to discuss, but we will be heading out close to ten.”

I looked at the still rising sun. It was probably about seven. That meant three more hours with that psychopath breathing down my neck. That was three hours too many.

“That long?”

“Yes, but it’s only three hours. You’ll be fine.”

“Uh-huh. So, Lestallum’s about forty minutes from here. Could I go visit Iris and Talcott?”

“I suppose. Take your phone, and call us as soon as you get there. You need to be back at nine thirty so we can get to the palace before sundown.”

“Alright. Thanks, Iggy.”

“Yes, alright. Go on, and remember..”

“Yeah, yeah. Take my weapons, don’t draw attention and pay attention to my surroundings. I got it.”

I hopped on Ailè, waving to the others as she took off.

I knocked on the door of the cabin, waiting impatiently on the porch. The door opened and I was tackled by Iris and Talcott as soon as they saw me.

“Y/N!!”

“Yeah, it’s me. Please let me breathe.”

They let me go and we all entered the cabin. Jared was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper. He lifted his head when he heard the door close.

“Y/N! What a pleasant surprise! What brings you here?”

“Just visiting. The guys are hanging out at a haven till ten, so I figured I’d chill here while they discuss ‘adult stuff’.”

“Well, you are always welcome here as well as at the hotel.”

“Thank you.”

I turned to Iris and Talcott.

“So, who wants to see me carve a moogle in four minutes flat?”

They both jumped up and down excitedly. We left out the back door after Talcott grabbed a timer. Talcott started the timer. I grabbed a log from the wood pile as we went down the stairs and started carving immediately. I used my dagger for better precision after I cut away most of the log with my switchblade. Iris and Talcott watched as splinters and chunks of wood went flying. Talcott called time and I showed them the carving. It was about the size of a sparrow, but intricately detailed. I bowed low, handing it to Iris. I spoke in an exaggerated posh tone.

“A gift for the lady, carved by the finest craftsman in this whole five foot radius.”

She curtsied and accepted the moogle.

“Why thank you, kind sir.”

I grabbed another log and quickly carved a cactuar for Talcott.

“And for the young master, a cactuar. No cactuars were harmed in the making of this carving.”

“Thank you, good sir. I appreciate your compassion for cactuars.”

We all laughed and headed back inside. I replaced my dagger in its sheathe when I noticed something was off about the belt. I felt the other sheathe and immediately froze. My other dagger was missing.

“I’m sorry guys. I’ve gotta head back. I’ll see you later.”

I dashed back outside and hopped on Ailè. We sped back to the haven. I could only hope that I wasn’t too late.

I jumped off of Ailè before she even stopped running. I tumbled to the ground, quickly regaining my footing and running at top speed the last hundred feet. I leaped up the rocks, nearly crashing into Prompto. I grabbed my bag from Ignis and Gladio’s tent, tearing through it. I panicked when I couldn’t find my dagger at first at first, but I searched through everything again, and found it tangled in a shirt. I was so relieved I almost cried. I sat back on my heels, trying to catch my breath. I heard the tent rustle and Prompto peeked in.

“Y/N, are you okay?”

“Yeah, Prom. I’m fine. Just forgot something.”

“It must be pretty important if you were tearing through everything.”

“Yeah. I forgot one of my daggers. Just making sure I left it here instead of losing it on the way to Lestallum.”

“Alright. By the way, it’s almost nine, so you should grab whatever you need for the trip to the palace.”

“Okay. Thanks for telling me.”

“No problem.”

He closed the flap on the tent and left me in the mess of clothes, art supplies and other miscellaneous items. I sighed, refolding everything and replacing it in my bag. I grabbed a small pack from a side pocket and placed a hoodie, my switchblade, my drawing stuff, my phone and charger, and a couple snacks in it. I took a small carving out of my bag and put it in my shirt pocket. It was a box, about the size of a small notebook. Gerald had carved it for me, and in it were photos of me and my friends during training. They had all also made me a small trinket to remember them by. Jolie had drawn a detailed portrait of all of us on a piece of paper no bigger than my thumb. Hayden made a little dragonfly out of scrap metal. Aiden had sewn a little doll in my image. And of course, the box was from Gerald. He’d carved all of our names in beautiful script and he’d handpainted it. On the bottom was the insignia of the crownsguard burned into the wood. I carried it with me everywhere. I was lucky to have such great friends. Being crownsguard soldiers made it hard to see each other much, but we kept in touch by video calling, or meeting up if we were close enough. I’d probably get to see Jolie and Aiden, as they were currently stationed at the palace until their next assignment. I was brought back from my reminiscing by a tap on the frame of the tent. Ignis poked his head in.

“Y/N, it’s time to go. Do you have everything you need?”

“Yep. I just gotta check the girth on Ailè’s saddle. It’s been sliding a bit lately, and I just wanna make sure it doesn’t need replacing.”

“Alright. Make it quick, though. It will take much longer to get there since we don’t have the Regalia. I’d rather not have to stop for the night.”

“ _ I know, Iggy _ . I’d just rather not fall off of a speeding chocobo.”

He sighed, stepping out. I shouldered my bag, following him out to the group.

“Alright. Y/N and I shouldn’t be gone more than a day. We’ll all meet up in Hammerhead by seven pm tomorrow. If we aren’t back by ten, just assume we’ve stopped for the night unless we call to tell you otherwise.”

“Got it. Noct, you’re driving. Prompto, you’re in the front. I’ll be getting some leg room finally.”

“I suppose I’ll follow.”

I tensed at the sound of his voice. It was smooth, but it grated in my ears like rusty cogs grinding against each other. I nodded to the others and started off towards the chocobos. Ignis soon followed.

“You seem eager to leave.”

“I’m not, but I will enjoy every minute spent away from that disgusting man.”

 

* * *

 

 

We arrived at the palace just as the sun was setting.

“We cut it close. Too close for my liking.”

“Listen, if you’d let me patch up Ailè’s girth when we left, we wouldn’t have had to stop and sew it back together.”

“Perhaps if you took better care of your bird’s tack, you wouldn’t have had to patch it up at all.”

“Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”

We approached the palace gates, and after Ignis ID’d himself, we entered. I left Ailè in the care of the stable hands and Ignis led me to the castle’s resident dream interpreter. He knocked on the door and a small brunette answered.

“Are you Ignis Scientia?”

“Yes. And this is Y/N.”

He gestured to me, and I gave her a small wave.

“Pleasure to meet you both. Please, come in.”

Her office felt more like a living room, with a couple recliners and a worn leather couch on the opposite wall. Her desk was slightly cluttered, and she had an air freshener that gave off a scent of a fall afternoon; crisp and refreshing, but calming. She gestured to the seats. Ignis sat on the couch and I took a recliner. My nervous energy must have been obvious, because the interpreter commented on it.

“It’s alright. I’m not going to shuffle through your past and violate your mind’s privacy. My name is Layla, and I am only here to help you understand what your dreams are telling you.”

“Did Ignis tell you anything?”

“No. I wanted to hear it from you. And if you are okay with it, though it’s okay if you’re not, when you are through describing the dream, I’d like to try and see what I can find of it in your memories.”

“You said you wouldn’t go through my mind.”

“It’s not completely necessary, but it will help me to understand it better.”

“Then why do I need to tell you about it?”

“I need you to describe the dream so I know what I am looking for. That way, I don’t have to look at each memory. Instead, I can just glance to see if it has what you described, and move on. Sometimes, we forget details of our dreams. Sometimes, those details are important to understanding the dream, and if I can piece together your whole dream or most of it, I can read it more thoroughly.”

I took a few deep breaths. I wasn’t even used to letting people in on my feelings. I could only imagine how invasive someone in my mind would feel. After some serious self-battling, I nodded.

“Alright. I’ll tell you. But no matter what it is, whatever you find, whatever you ‘read’, I  _ need  _ to know. I’ve been through a lot of shit, so trust me when I say I can handle it.”

“Of course.”

“Okay. The dream started with me, Gladio, Prompto, Iggy, Noctis and Ardyn sitting around the fire. I don’t remember quite how it happened, but somehow Ardyn ended up with one of my daggers in his hand. He..”

“Take your time. It’s okay.”

I took a moment to compose myself before continuing.

“He murdered them in cold blood. And he enjoyed it. First time I’d heard him genuinely laugh was when he was murdering my friends with  _ my dagger _ that they’d given to me. It even has their names carved into it. And he killed them with it. I could only sit there. It was one of those things where you know you have to get up, you have to stop it, but you can’t. You’re frozen in place, watching the horror unfold. When he.. When he finished, he turned to me. His eyes were as dead as you could get, but his smile. His smile was horrifying. And he had their blood in his mouth and on his face. That’s when I unfroze, and I ran. He leapt towards me and he managed to gouge my side before I could get too far. I kept running though. I ran, and I ran, but he always was two steps behind me. I think I tripped on a log or something, and I fell down a hill. I remember how agonizing each roll was. I landed on my back at the edge of the road. I thought I was lucky when I saw the Regalia. Of course, that didn’t last long. He appeared right in front of the car after a few minutes of driving at top speed. There was no way he could have caught up with me, but he did. So I slammed the brakes, and sent the car tumbling. I flew out onto the road, and all I could see was Ardyn strutting over to me. He jabbed my dagger in my side, and said something like ‘The saviour of Lucis couldn’t even save his friends. You will all burn to the ground with it.’ Right when I died, I woke up. It was the worst nightmare I’ve ever had. And I can’t forget it. I can’t forget what he did to my friends. I can’t forget how helpless I was. I was at his mercy, and I hated it.”

“That is a terrible dream. And you haven’t had it before?”

“No. I’d remember if I did.”

“You said he called you the saviour of Lucis?”

“I mean, I guess. But he most likely meant Noct. I was nothing before I became a member of the Crownsguard, and even now, I’m just a soldier. How could I be the saviour of Lucis?”

“I’m not sure. But if you will permit me, I’d like to check your subconscious for any missing pieces of your dream. I’m sure you remember most of the important details, but I just want to be sure.”

I hesitated. My mind was the one thing that was truly private anymore. Layla was nice, but she was a stranger. I wasn’t sure I’d even let Iggy in my mind. However, my curiosity won out in the end. I needed to know what this dream meant.

“Alright. But, you.. you might find some things that don’t make a lot of sense. If you see anything of my past, ignore it and move on.”

“If you like, I can teach you how to put up a sort of wall to block off those memories.”

“No. It’s fine. Let’s just get this damn thing over with.”

Layla nodded, placing a hand on my head. I felt a stabbing pain, but it soon receded to a sense of pressure. I could feel her looking through my mind. It took all my willpower to not force her out. It felt like hours later when she finally left my head. I released my death grip on the arms of the recliner and gritted my teeth. I looked at the clock. It had barely been ten minutes. I looked at Layla, who was slightly pale and giving me a look of strong pity and sorrow.

“What? What did you find?”

“I-I’m not exactly sure what I saw. Before I can say anything for sure, I must discuss this with the high priestess.”

“Layla, what did you see? Please, tell me!”

“I’m so sorry, Y/N. I can’t even make sense of it myself. I promise you, as soon as I’ve discussed it with the high priestess, I will tell you what I saw.”

“Was it that bad?”

I looked over at Ignis. He looked concerned, which freaked me out a bit more. Whenever Ignis was concerned, there was a damn good reason for everyone else to be.

“It wasn’t anything awful, I can tell you that. For now, you both should get some rest. I will call you tomorrow when I’ve made sense of this.”

Ignis nodded, standing up. I did the same, following him to the door. I turned back to face Layla.

“Thank you.”

“Of course. Do try to get some rest.”

I turned away and followed Ignis to our quarters for the evening. I did not sleep well that night.


	16. That Can't Be Right... Right?

Ignis woke me up around ten the next morning. He said Layla had called. She wanted us to meet her in her office as soon as possible. I quickly got dressed and we made our way through the winding halls to Layla’s office. I knocked on the door and it opened immediately. Layla looked a bit disheveled, like she pulled an all-nighter.

“Please, come in.”

We entered the room, and my eyes went to the ornately dressed woman sitting on the couch. She held herself high, but she didn’t seem pompous. She looked towards me and Iggy, giving us both a warm smile.

“Hello Ignis, Y/N. I am High Priestess Ornia.”

I wasn’t sure whether to bow, kneel or shake her hand. I settled for a nod and a half bow.

“An honour to meet you, priestess.”

“Hello Ornia. It has been a long while.”

“Yes it has, Ignis. And the honour is all mine, Y/N. I’ve heard good things about you from Layla. She tells me you had a strange dream that she couldn’t make sense of.”

She looked to Layla for confirmation.

“Yes. Y/N, I told her as much as I could, but it would be easier if she could see the dream for herself.”

“You mean, see it in my mind?”

“Yes.”

“No disrespect meant to you, priestess, but I’m not very fond of letting others into my mind. It took all of my willpower not to force Layla out of my mind. I’m not sure how well I’ll hold if someone else enters my head.”

“No disrespect taken. However, if this dream is important enough for Layla to come to me, it is necessary that I see for myself what she doesn’t understand.”

“Y/N, it is for the best if you do as Ornia says. She means no harm, and respects your mind’s privacy just as Layla does.”

I gritted my teeth. Two people will have been in my most private space, and that was two people too many. But Ignis was right. I nodded my consent for Ornia to begin. She kneeled in front of me, placing her hand on my head as Layla had. When she entered my mind, I immediately noticed a difference between her and Layla. Where Layla felt like a cotton snake slithering through my mind, Ornia felt like a butterfly; flitting here and there, making her way through my mind, searching for the bits and pieces of my dream. It still wasn’t a pleasant experience, but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as the first time. She took her time, thoroughly looking at my dream, looking in every nook and cranny of my head for any tiny pieces that may have been lost in the depths of my memory. When she finally left my mind, I felt tired, as if I hadn’t slept for a couple days. I rested my head in my hands, gathering my thoughts while Ornia mulled over what she had seen. When I felt coherent enough to open my eyes, I saw Ornia staring at me, tears welling in her eyes. My heart skipped a beat.

“Priestess, please tell me what it is. Tell me what is so harrowing about my dream.”

“Layla warned me, but I had to confirm and see it for myself. Are you sure you only saw what you told us?”

“Yes, that’s all I saw. Was there more to it?”

“Y/N, please wait in the hall while we three discuss this.”

I rose from my seat, standing tall and looking Ornia in the eye.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. It’s my dream, and if it’s bad enough that you’re freaked out by it, I need hear what you have to say.”

She looked to Ignis, almost as if she was asking for permission. He nodded, saying,

“Y/N has the right to hear this.”

Ornia turned to me, and I felt afraid.

“Y/N, you were never meant to be born in the universe you came from. You are a Lucis Caelum. Do you know what that means?”

“Not really.”

“It means you were meant to be the king’s second son. You are the second prince of Lucis, and you are the one who will save it from the darkness that is prophesied to consume it. You _are_ the saviour of Lucis.”

I fell back into my seat. My breath caught in my throat and my heart dropped to my stomach. My whole life was a mistake. My mom, my grammie, my sister. They weren’t supposed to be my family. Whatever cosmic deities controlled the universes fucked up big time. I had a sudden realisation.

“That’s why I was transported here. I had to survive that nuclear war in my world. The all powerful deities figured out their mistake and scrambled to fix it. But they couldn’t save my family. Those fucking bastards. So, what? They kill my family and destroy my world, but they expect me to play by their rules and just accept my fate here? They expect me to be okay with this?”

“Whoever these deities are, they _had_ to bring you here. Otherwise, this world would have been destroyed.”

“You mean like mine was? Why does this world matter so much more than mine? That was my home! I had family there! They had no right killing them and everyone else! I didn’t ask to be a fucking magical prince in a fantasy land! I just wanted to live my life out, go to college, marry, have kids, and live a long, _normal_ life in my home.”

“This world was made with options. It was meant to be saved. Your world wasn’t made with the same rules.”

“So that’s it? Do I have to die for a world I don’t belong in? Do I have to give everything for a world that doesn’t know who I am and couldn’t care less?”

“It is not said that you will necessarily die. However, there will be ten years of darkness before you defeat the corrupted one. During those years, you will prepare and train for the final fight.”

I took a deep breath. I really didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t just let this world die like mine had. Just because I’d been fucked over didn’t mean I had the right to do the same here.

“What do I do in the meantime?”

“Continue to collect the royal arms with Prince Noctis. They will be essential in the fight against the corrupted one.”

"Collect the royal arms?"

"Yes. You probably haven't noticed, but as Prince Noctis aquires each royal weapon, you do as well."

“Ah. Wonderful. Also, you keep saying ‘the corrupted one’. Who is that?”

“The prophecy isn’t quite clear on who the corrupted one is; only that they have the power to bring Lucis to its knees.”

“Ardyn said something about burning Lucis to the ground. Is he the corrupted one?”

“I doubt it. It could be that he is just someone you seriously distrust and he is the one who the role was projected on.”

“Seriously distrust is a major understatement.”

“My point exactly.”

“Y/N, we must tell the others.”

“No! They’ll only worry, and it will put them all on edge. They’ve been told for years that Noct will save Lucis and destroy the darkness. What do you think it will do to them when they find out that not only is that not true, but that I’m the one who will take his place? Or even that I’m actually Noct’s long lost baby brother? No. No one else can know.”

“Alright. This will remain between the four of us and the king.”

“The king? Why?”

“Because the king needs to know about this.”

“Actually, I think he might have a sense of what’s going on. He acted strangely friendly towards me when I started training and he said ‘my son will need you by his side very soon.’”

“Perhaps. However, we still must tell him all of it.”

“Is that all you saw in his dream?”

“Yes. That is all we saw, hence it is all we know.”

“Then we must be on our way.”

Ignis held up his hand when I started to object.

“I know this is a lot to process in a small amount of time, but we must return to the others. You must be there to collect the final royal arm. I will call them and tell them to return to Hammerhead before they reach the dungeon.”

“Fine. But if I’m a bit snappy for a few days, you better give me some grace on that.”

“Of course. Layla, Ornia, thank you for assisting us and in such a timely manner.”

“We would never do anything less. Farewell, Ignis, your highness.”

It took a moment before I realised the ‘your highness’ was addressed towards me.

“Uhm, yeah. Goodbye.”

As we left the office, I felt detached; like I was floating just above us and watching everything from afar.

“Do not expect me to start calling you ‘your highness’.”

I snorted.

“I’d never.”

We exited the palace and headed to the stables to retrieve our chocobos. Ailè squawked as we approached, obviously excited to see me. I laughed, stroking her head before climbing in the saddle. We took off towards Hammerhead, my mind swimming with the happening of the past hour.  
  


* * *

 

 

Hammerhead appeared on the horizon about six pm, which left time for me and Ignis to settle down a few miles out and concoct a lie about the past night and day.

“We should tell them that Ardyn meant Noct, and it was just a portrayal of my fear of losing you guys. My distrust of Ardyn caused him to be the culprit. Nothing deeper. Just a simple night terror. Horrifying, yeah, but not a message from any cosmic deities.”

“We should at least tell Noctis. He deserves to know his true fate.”

“This late in the game? We’re about to go get the eleventh royal arm. He doesn’t need to lose his focus now. We’ll just keep him back when the final showdown happens. He’ll just have to be in the dark, like everyone else.”

“And how do you think he will react? Do you really believe he’ll be able to accept that fact in the seconds before he was to fight the corrupted one?”

“He’ll have to.”

“Y/N..”

“Iggy, I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle how he’ll look at me if we tell him. For all I know, he could be resentful that I, a literal alien, am going to save _his_ homeland. He’s supposed to be the hero, the one who will deliver Lucis from the darkness. How would you feel if it turned out your whole life, all your training would be for nothing? That a foreigner would take all that credit?”

“If that were to happen to me, I would accept it. If it saves my home and my family, then I would relinquish my supposed role to that foreigner.”

“And you wouldn’t feel the slightest bit.. Well, slighted?”

“I would, yes, but my home comes before my pride.”

I sighed.

“I guess he’d be angrier if we didn’t tell him. But I can’t tell him and _not_ tell Prom and Gladio.”

“It is your decision, though consider how it will change their view of you and Noctis as well.”

“So should I tell them?”

“You are old enough that you can be trusted to make these decisions for yourself. Though, they may see you differently.”

“And what about you? Do you see me differently? Am I a stranger now?”

“You are the same Y/N I met in these dusty plains almost three years ago. You may have grown, but you will always be Y/N. Though instead of a normal pain in the ass, you are now a royal pain in the ass.”

I lightly punched him on the shoulder, feigning offense.

“Excuse you, sir. That is no way to address your saviour.”

“I address Noctis however I please, I will do the same with you.”

“Hmph.”

“Y/N, you need to decide now. Will you tell the others now, or wait till the last moment?”

That was a loaded question. Honestly, I wasn’t that worried about the guys seeing me as a different person. I knew that they’d love and care about me no matter what I was. The only thing was, how would they react knowing  _I_ would be the one to fight the ‘last battle’? If I knew them, they’d do anything to keep me out of harm’s way. They might even risk the fate of Lucis to keep me safe. Of course, I’d have to tell them to be one hundred percent sure of their reactions, but I couldn’t take that chance. Though I never really thought about it till then, I realised Lucis was their home, _my home._ I could either risk my life so they could live for years to come or I could be selfish, and we’d all die within five years. Besides, nowhere in that prophecy did it state that the saviour would necessarily die. Just that they’d defeat the corrupted one and save Lucis. So, I took the risk.

“I can’t tell them now. I know you won’t, but I’m afraid they might risk the entirety of Lucis to keep me safe. I trust them to make the right decisions, but this is a hard one.”

“And you consider yourself ready to risk your life for a world you only just arrived in?”

“Ignis. This isn’t just y’alls home anymore. It’s _our home_. I love this place and the people in it. I can’t just sit back and watch everyone die because I was too selfish to save them. Yeah, sure. I’m a bit scared. Actually, I’m really scared. I’m fucking terrified, but if it means you guys could live long, happy lives, I’m all for it. You are my family, and just like my family back on earth, I’d give anything to keep you safe.”

Ignis was silent for a few minutes, then I heard him clear his throat a few times. He adjusted his glasses and I swear I saw tears in his eyes. They were gone in a flash, though. His voice was strained as he spoke, and it broke a couple of times.

“Y/N, you’ve come very far since I first met you. You’ve risen from the lowest pit and you’ve suffered more than any of us. Yet, you are the bravest and kindest of us all. You’ve matured and grown so much in just three years. I only wish I could tell you all this under less morbid circumstances. But whatever becomes of you, or any of us, know that I love you, and I am proud of you.”

For Ignis to say all that, even just that last sentence, meant the world to me. It meant more than I could tell him with a million words. I settled for embracing him. He knew what I meant, even if I couldn’t articulate it.

We rode the last two miles to Hammerhead in silence, just enjoying each other’s company. Once we came into view of Cindy’s garage and the RV, I slowed Ailè to a walk. Ignis gave me a sideways glance but spurred his chocobo on. I was overanxious to return to my friends. In the span of a day, everything had changed. I had to save a world that didn’t know its own fate. I didn’t know if I would live through that. Yet, I decided I wouldn’t say a damn thing to my only family in this whole universe. How could I look them in the eyes after this? I exhaled sharply, swallowing my tears and spurring Ailè on. I painted a smile on my face, an all too familiar feeling, and greeted my friends with open arms and laughter. Of course, the moment was ruined by the one and only Ardyn.

“Aww, how sweet. We’re so glad you could both rejoin us. How was the trip?”

I didn’t grace his condescension with a verbal reply. Instead, I spit some gum I’d been chewing onto the ground at his feet and headed to the RV.  I sent Ailè on her way and grabbed clothes from the Regalia to take a shower.

 When I came out, the boys were sleeping in various places in the RV. Of course, they’d left the recliner for me. It had unofficially become my resting place whenever we rented out the RV. I figured Ardyn was sleeping in his car, so I curled up in the recliner after putting in my headphones and turning on my music. With a peaceful smile on my face, and Saving Me by Nickelback softly playing, I fell asleep. The weight of the world lifted just for a moment.


	17. Anything But This Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything goes to shit real quick. New Flash: Ardyn is still a dick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may notice that there aren't any chapter titles, detailed summaries or chapter notes for these last few chapters. There's only about five more, and I'm trying to get them all posted while dying of allergies at 12:00 at night, so if there are any mistakes, please tell me, because I might even accidentally post a chapter from a completely different fic. All bets are off at this point. I'll definitely come back and add chapter titles and try to do more detailed chapter summaries and add chapter notes. As always, comments and criticism are always welcome! :)

_We all laughed at Noct’s indignation, lettuce hanging off his nose. I’d thrown it at him after he dared to steal one of my fries. This restaurant had the best fries around. No one was allowed to take them from me. Another hand reached for my food, and before I could smack it away, it pulled one of my daggers out of my fries. It was supposed to be in my sheathe, but it had somehow appeared in my food. I looked at the owner, and my heart froze. It was Ardyn, a smug grin on his ugly features. He swung first at Prompto, who sat opposite me, but this time I was ready. I tackled him to the ground, wrestling him for the dagger, He threw the dagger in a feeble attempt to hit Noctis, and he missed by about three booths. I unsheathed my other dagger, and I raised both hands over my head, bringing the knife down swiftly into his chest. The exact moment my knife pierced his heart, I felt a sharp pain in my gut. I looked down, and saw a gilded blade sticking out of my abdomen. Ardyn’s hand was still wrapped around the hilt. I slumped to the side, and I drew my last breath._

I woke with a start, my gut aching with phantom pains. I looked at the clock hanging above the stove in the RV. It was almost eleven in the morning, and everyone was still asleep. That couldn’t be right. I looked out the window. Sure enough, the sun was almost overhead. I nudged everyone, trying to wake them up, but they wouldn’t. My soft whispers and gentle pokes elevated to screams and violent shaking. They still wouldn’t wake up. The door swung open and in came Ardyn. He had my dagger in his hand. No, this had to be a dream. I closed my eyes and pinched myself, hard. When I opened them, he was still there, swinging my dagger in his hand like a toy.

“Well, I never took your friends for the type to sleep in. How unfortunate. It would be a tragedy if they were in danger. They couldn’t defend themselves. Only you could save them. It’s too bad that you can’t. Of course, you never had any chance, _your highness._ ”

My heart was racing. Ardyn knew. He knew this whole time, probably. My dreams were right. Ardyn was the corrupted one.

“Don’t you take another step, Ardyn. I swear to the Six, I will cut you into a thousand pieces and feed you to a voretooth.”

“With a single dagger? I don’t think so, little one. Lucis will be mine, and the royal line will end here. Your father is dead, and soon you and your brother will join him.”

I felt my blood turn to ice. He’d killed the king. He’d killed Noct’s dad. I didn’t know if Regis could truly be called my father, but he’d treated me like a son the few times I’d seen him.

Ardyn had crossed a huge line. I was so close to lashing out and trying to kill him, but that’s what he wanted. And he got what he wanted.

“You’re wrong.” I told him with a voice cold and hard like ice. “You’ll be joining him.”

I lunged at him, but I didn’t go to stab him. I jumped on the counter, leaping behind him and kicking him in the back of the knees. He tried to catch himself on his hands, causing him to drop the dagger. I looped my arms underneath his, immobilizing him and holding my dagger point to his throat.

“What was that about the end of Lucis?”

“You’ve been taught well. But surely they told you not to hesitate.”

Before I could process what he said, I was flipped over him, the dagger taken from my hand. I got cocky, and I’d ignored Gladio’s advice. It was going to be my end, and the end of Lucis. However, Ardyn stepped over me. Then I saw where his gaze was. He was after Noctis. I grabbed his foot, he didn’t fall, but he stumbled, grabbing onto the windowsill for balance. He kicked me in the face, resuming his mission. Just as he was going to plunge the dagger into Noct’s heart, I felt my hair rise on the nape of my neck, and a burning smell filled the RV. I barely had time to curl into a ball before lightning struck the RV. Pieces of the RV flew everywhere, along with the people in it. I smacked my head on a metal pole, after being flung across the parking lot. Just before I lost consciousness, I saw a giant hand pick Noctis up, gently holding him. Another threw Ardyn into the distance. I tried to call out, but my voice failed me, and the last thing I saw was Noct disappearing into the sky.

I woke to a pitch black night, the only light coming from the single street lamp and Taka’s restaurant. Not even the stars were out. As I sat up, my head throbbed, bringing back the past day. Noct was gone, and Ardyn was Six-knows-where. I quickly remembered Iggy, Prompto and Gladio were with us in the RV. Despite the throbbing in my head and the dizziness upon standing, I looked around for my remaining friends. They weren’t very far, luckily, and they weren’t hurt too bad, from what I could see. Prompto had landed by the gas pumps, Gladio was across the road in a ditch and Iggy was curled up near the Regalia. I saw Gladio get up. I pointed to Prompto and he got the message, heading to check on him. I went to make sure Ignis was okay, praying that he was. I gently shook him, and my prayers were answered; he woke up. He unfurled and.. I fell back in shock. His eyes.. they’d been burned in the blast. He felt around for his glasses, which didn’t make it. I wondered if they were why he even still had eyes in his head.

“Iggy? It’s Y/N, grab my hand and I’ll pull you up.”

“Y/N? What the hell happened, and where are my glasses? I can’t see a thing.”

“I’ll explain what happened when we join Prom and Gladio. As for your glasses.. they were destroyed. You can’t see because..”

“Because my eyes were ruined. I feel the burning sensation now. Right. In the glove compartment, there should be some elixirs. Please fetch me one.”

I didn’t know what he was expecting to happen, but I did as he asked. He downed the elixir, and we both waited silently for a few moments. I started to console him but he held up a hand.

“I wasn’t expecting a miracle, just some pain relief. Please help me up, and we will join the others.”

I stood up and took his hand, pulling him to his feet and guiding him to the restaurant. Taka, Cindy, Cid, Gladio, and Prompto were already inside. I led him to a bar stool, where he sat, his gaze straight ahead. I greeted everyone else warmly, making sure they were alright. Prompto was first to ask questions.

“Y/N, do you know what happened? Taka said he didn’t see much until the blast. He saw Ardyn going into the van, the blast, then he was knocked out. I guess we all were.”

“That’s what I’m going to explain. I think the prophecy is coming true, but you need to hear the ‘updated version’. That’s what Ignis and I found out at the palace.”

“Wait, you mean your dream?”

“Yeah, just give me a chance to explain. So, we talked to Layla, and she looked in my head. Apparently she was freaked out, so she called in the High Priestess Ornia. She did the same and what she found was… strange to say the least. The short of it is, I was never meant to be born in my world. I was meant to be Regis’ second son, Noct’s brother. I was supposed to be born a Lucis Caelum.”

Collective gasps and murmurs.

“I know. And that’s why I was brought here. Cindy, Cid, Taka, you don’t know this, but I figure you should. I was brought here from another universe by the cosmic deities that rule all the universes. My world was fated to be destroyed by nuclear war. I had to survive. My family in that world apparently wasn’t as important. They died. But I had to survive so I could save Lucis. Noct isn’t the Saviour. I am. And Ardyn is the corrupted one. Earlier, I woke up only to be unable to wake the guys. That’s when Ardyn entered the RV, and somehow, he had one of my daggers. In my dream, he killed me and my friends with that dagger, so I knew that’s what was happening then. I attacked him, but he bested me because I got cocky. He went to stab Noct, and then the blast came. It knocked all of us out, but I stayed awake long enough to see a pair of hands take Noctis into the sky and throw Ardyn to what I hope is the other side of the world, but it’s not. I woke up, and everything was pitch dark. So, yes. The prophecy has begun. And it started when Ardyn killed the king.”

I took a shaky breath as everyone gathered their thoughts.

“Ardyn said to me, ‘Lucis will be mine, and the royal line ends here. Your father is dead, and soon, you and your brother will join him.”

We were all started by a fist slamming on the counter. I turned to look at Gladio.

“No! The king can’t be dead. Ardyn was lying through his teeth.”

“Gladio, I wish he was lying, more than anything, but look outside. If the king was alive, do you think it would be like this? And why would he lie? About that, at least. No. He killed the king, and he planned to do the same to me and Noctis.”

“So, what do we do now? Without daytime, demons are gonna be runnin’ rampant ‘round here.”

“I don’t know, Cindy. But we can’t just roll over and die. We gotta fight our hardest. Call everyone you know, and get them here. Gladio, you go find your sister.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay here?”

“I’m a member of the Crownsguard, trained by your father and Cor. I’ll be fine.”

Cid tossed him a key ring.

“Here, take my bike. It’ll get ya there and back faster than demons can get to ya.”

He thanked Cid, nodded to me and headed out. We watched as the bike disappeared into the darkness. I turned back to everyone else.

“Cindy, Cid, you’ve gotta have some weapon material in that garage somewhere. Get working on that. Prompto, you and me are gonna go out and try to find survivors in a five mile radius before the demons get to be too numerous. We’ll get as many supplies as we can while we do that. Taka, Iggy, take stock of what we have. Food, medical supplies, ammo, anything essential. I want to know exactly how much we have. And bring the Regalia into the garage. I will not have that car stomped on by a red giant or have the engine torn up by a goblin. Everyone know their jobs?”

Nods and confirmations.

“Good, Prompto, let’s go.”

“Are we taking the chocobos?”

“No, but I’m gonna call them in. They need to be in the garage with the car.”

“Why aren’t we taking them out?”

“If a demon shows up, I don’t want to run the risk of them getting spooked and getting us or themselves hurt or killed. We’re both fit, we can run it.”

I took out my whistle and blew it. Within seconds, five ash ridden, terrified chocobos were in front of us. I called Cindy over to take them and Prompto and I headed out.

 We’d been searching for about three hours, and already, demons were surrounding us. We’d scavenged some food, but we didn’t find any survivors. There was a stray dog that both Prompto and I agreed to take with us. Poor thing was scared out of its mind. It was small enough to zip up in my jacket with me and carry around, so I did. Finally, we had to head back. The demons were everywhere, and any survivors were long gone. Luckily, we’d had good luck with scavenging. Several plants were still alive, since it hadn’t been more than a day since the sun last came up, which meant foraging was good. It also meant animals were stocking up as well. We hunted two anaks, and one juvenile garula, dragging them behind us with an improvised sled made from two large branches and a tarp. Walking back, we found an abandoned van full of produce. We threw the kills in and Prompto drove us back. We could fit more food in the van, so we killed two more anaks, another juvenile garula, and twelve small reapertails. The van struggled to move with all that weight, but we made it back. We quickly unloaded the produce, and hung the carcasses in the freezer. I set the dog on the ground, giving it a bowl of water and a hamburger patty. I took a quick look around the diner and noticed that our entourage had expanded. Dave was sitting with Taka and Cid, probably comparing notes. Ignis was in a booth facing me, whispering with a man. I walked over to get a look at his face, and I was overcome with relief.

“Cor!”

I attacked him in a hug, which he returned. I pulled away, taking a seat next to him.

“What happened? How the hell are you alive?”

“I was on a hunt with Dave when the world shook. It quickly got dark, so we came here, where we figured you and your friends would be. What happened? Ignis told me what he remembers, but he said I should get the story from you.”

“Ardyn happened. This whole time I knew he was more than a douchebag. I knew he was evil. Ardyn’s the corrupted one from the prophecy, and I’m the saviour. That’s why I was brought here when my world died. I was supposed to be born here, as Regis’ second son. I think Regis knew that, too. You saw how he treated me during my training. He knew I was meant to be his, and I think he knew what would happen to him. Ardyn killed my dad and tried to kill my brother, and he will pay for that. I’ll make sure he knows who _really_ belongs in Lucis.”

“I know you will, but for now, we have to focus on saving the people here. You aren’t just saving the land from darkness. You have to save the people first, or there isn’t any point at all. Gladio’s on his way now from Lestallum. He’s got Iris and Talcott in tow.”

“What about Jared?”

“He.. he didn’t make it. Gladio found Talcott and Iris hiding in a closet at the hotel with Jared draped over them. He’d protected them to his last breath.”

“Oh.”

I took a long, trembling breath. Who else had been killed? Was Luna okay? What about Wiz and the chocobo ranch? How many of my friends had been killed already? I couldn’t just sit there any longer. I needed to do something.

“Okay. Do you know of any other hunters who survived?”

“I’ve contacted a few, and they’re all in groups of two to twelve. They’re on their way, meaning we’ll have about forty more people arriving in a couple hours, depending on the demon trouble.”

“Okay, As soon as they get here, get ‘em fed and then I want eight groups of four searching a fifteen mile radius for survivors. The rest will help with taking stock of supplies and helping Cid and Cindy get a forge going. Any metal that isn’t being used for survival will be melted down and made into a weapon, except the Regalia. Anyone touches that car, I will chop them up and serve them to the dog. We may not be able to confront Ardyn right now, but we ain’t dead yet, and I personally would like to live long enough to drink some damn booze without some law man or Iggy jumping my ass about it.”

“Was everyone from your home like you?”

“No. They were either cowards with nothing to live for, save inflating their ego, or brave people who died before they could help everyone they wanted to. I like to think I’m neither.”

“Then what are you?”

I stared Cor down as I said,

“Someone loyal to their loved ones, and someone who will repay Ardyn all the pain he has caused. I will burn his imaginary empire to the ground and laugh as he burns with it. He messed with the wrong fucking prince. Now, we need to get to work.”

As I stormed off, I heard Ignis chuckle.

“You trained him well.”

“No. I didn’t teach him that. You can’t teach bravery in the face of death. Especially the death of your home and loved ones.”

“No, and not for the second time.”

It hit me then. This _was_ the second time I was in danger of losing everything I knew and loved. I would not let Ardyn take this world from me. I would not lose my home again.


	18. Nothing Can Stop Fate. Not Even Love.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You will hate me for this chapter. It's okay, though. I hated me. too. I cried.

Ten years. Ten years of total darkness and chaos. Demons and magitek troopers were everywhere. Not even havens were safe; the demons crushed those into the ground. Our camp now had two hundred eighty three people in it. Some were civilians who were just really lucky. Most were hunters who had stumbled upon us, some carrying friends who were on death’s door. I was twenty seven years old, but my shoulders carried the weight of the world. Every other day, we had survivors coming in. Some we were able to help. But a lot of them we couldn’t save. There was a trio of children who’d been brought in by a hunter patrol. They were starving and sickly. We tried everything to save them. I abandoned my duties and stayed with them all hours, but nothing we did helped. They didn’t make it, so we added three more small graves behind the garage. That was when I almost gave up. What was the point of surviving if there was nothing to live for? There was no hope. For the first time in twelve years, I sat in my tent with a razor in my hand, ready to end it all. Of course, I didn’t get the chance. A demon appeared right in front of our camp, and it took half of our fighters to take it down. I went back to my tent and hid the razor. Not now, I told myself. If there is no one left but myself, if I don’t have anyone to save, then I can, but not now. I was needed.

 I’d just returned from a hunt when Talcott almost ran me over, racing into the parking lot like a man on fire. I saw someone in the passenger’s seat. I guessed he’d found another survivor. When the person stepped out of the truck, I froze, and fell to my knees, tears streaming down my face. It was Noctis. He’d aged, his hair had grown out and his face covered in hair and dirt, but it was undoubtedly Noct. Gladio turned from talking with Dave to see the commotion, and he too, froze. It was then that we heard,

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCT!”

And Noctis was tackled by Prompto, both men falling to the ground. Gladio shook himself out of his stupor and joined Prompto in hugging Noct. They called Iggy over, and he too, was ecstatic. Even from a hundred yards away, I saw the tears falling from underneath his tinted glasses. I sat there on the ground, still taking it in. They all finally broke away, letting Noctis breathe. I slowly stood, approaching the group with hesitancy.

“Noctis?”

“Yes? And who are you?”

I was hurt, but I allowed him that. I’d changed as well. I was a couple inches taller than him by now, and I had a full face of hair. I’d gained some muscle as well, looking almost as built as Gladio. I just hoped he remembered me.

“It’s.. it’s Y/N. You know, the annoying kid you picked up a few years back?”

His eyes widened in surprise.

“Wow. You got big.”

I gave a half hearted laugh.

“Yeah. Leading a small army of demon hunters will do that to a person.”

“You run this place?”

“Yeah. But we should talk more inside. I’ll be there in a minute, I just gotta talk with Talcott.”

I watched as they made their way to the diner, talking animatedly, then I turned to speak to the bringer of good news.

“Tell Cor I need him in the diner. And Talcott, don’t breathe a word to anyone but Dave and Cor. Make sure they know not to spread it, and I want the diner off limits till further notice.”

“Will do, boss.”

I smiled, ruffling his hair.

“You’re a good kid, Tal. I’m proud of you, and Jared would be too. Thank you for bringing Noctis home.”

He nodded.

“Thanks, Y/N. That means a lot.”

“Now, go on, before I scold you for almost running me over.”

He grinned, jogging off to find Cor. I turned, walking to the diner. I entered, the bell announcing my presence. I bent down to pat the old dog by the door, then I joined my friends at the bar.

“So, have they filled you in on everything?”

“Kind of. But they said you need to tell me about my dad.”

I glared at them, but I wasn’t surprised. Besides, it really was my story to tell.

“Well, before you got taken and darkness fucked over the kingdom, Ardyn tried to kill you. He’d said to me ‘Lucis will be mine, and the royal line ends here. Your father is dead, and soon, you and your brother will join him.’ He’d killed Regis or had someone kill him.”

“Wait, he said _your father_. Was he talking to me in my sleep?”

“No. He wasn’t. That’s what we found out in Crown City about my dream. I was meant to be your brother, the king’s youngest son. That’s why I was brought here, because I have to save Lucis from the corrupted one, from Ardyn. I’m the Saviour of Lucis.”

“And you never told us? Never told me that my whole life was a lie?”

“I couldn’t. You would have lost focus. I still needed you, _need_ you, to help me fight him. I didn’t know at the time Ardyn was the corrupted one, but two Lucis Caelums working together would stop him in his tracks.”

“But you’d give the final blow.”

“And I might die doing it. Either way, I’m not meant to be king. That’s always been you, but I have to save our home. Please try to understand. I wouldn’t have been able to go on if you resented me for something I couldn’t control, for something I didn’t even want. If it’s any consolation, I didn’t tell Prompto or Gladio. I made Ignis promise not to tell them either.”

“It’s not, but I don’t have much choice, do I?”

“Not really.”

He sighed, defeated.

“Then I suppose you’re who I’m meant to give this to.”

He held out a ring with a clear crystal mounted on it.

“When I was asleep, I met with Bahamut. He gave me this ring and said that the saviour would need it to bring the light back to Lucis. I assumed he meant me, but I guess I was wrong. It was my- our father’s, so take care of it.”

I gently took the ring from Noct, placing it on my right middle finger.

“Now I can tell Ardyn to fuck himself in style.”

My friends laughed. The bell on the door rang, and we turned to see Cor walking in. He seemed troubled, more so than usual. He nodded to us, then looked to Noctis.

“It’s good to see you alive, Noctis.”

“It’s good to be alive, Cor.”

Cor turned to address me.

“Y/N, the second patrol just returned. They said they saw lights from the crown city, and that they need to report directly to you.”

“Lights? Are they sure it wasn’t red giants having a fight night or something?”

“No. They insist what they saw were the city lights. I think it’s best if you hear them yourself.”

My stomach was in a knot and my heart was racing.

“Okay. Guys, come on. I think we might be taking a road trip soon.”

I followed Cor to where the patrol was waiting, the guys right behind me. As I approached, they stood at attention. Seriously, when would they stop doing that?

“Chill out, I ain’t your damn general. At ease, or whatever. Now, tell me exactly what you saw. No embellishments.”

The patrol leader stepped forward from his group, looking slightly shaken from what he saw.

“We saw the city lights come on, sir. What looked like Magitek engines, about six, landed in the city center. Because of the distance, we couldn’t see much more, so we went to get a closer look. The city was in ruins, but there were demons and Magitek troopers everywhere. The palace was mostly intact, and obviously occupied. Sir, we believe someone may be trying to send a message, maybe even an invitation.”

“Thank you. You can go. Tell the third patrol to stay within a three mile radius. Something big is coming, and I don’t want them spread too thin. Get some rest. Y’all did well.”

“Thank you, sir.”

They marched off to where the third patrol would be waiting.

“Okay. Well, I think we can all guess at who might be waiting for us there.”

“So, should we go?”

“Yes, Prom. We absolutely should. After we get some food and rest. This is it, guys. Ten years of darkness are about to come an end. We need to be at our best to bring the light. Cor, call a camp meeting. These people need to know the basics of what’s happening.”

“Do you want third patrol to stay for that?”

“Yeah. Catch up with them if you can. Thanks.”

He jogged off to where the patrols reported, and I turned to my friends.

“Guys, we’re here. We fucking made it. We can finally stop Ardyn in his tracks. We can bring the light back to Lucis. I couldn’t have picked a better band of brothers to fight this last battle with.”

“Twelve years ago, we picked up a dusty kid with no home and no family. Twelve years later, he turns out to be one of the best warriors we’ve ever known.”

“Thanks, Gladio. I’m glad you didn’t kill me like you promised you would.”

“Not only has Y/N turned out to be a great warrior, he has become a great friend, a part of our family. I believe I speak for all of us when I say we are proud of the man you have become. You fought your own demons long before you ever picked up a weapon, and you bested them. I have no doubt that you can defeat Ardyn and save our home. _Your home_ , because you belong here, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Somehow, even after being blind for ten years, Ignis looked me straight in the eye as he spoke. And I cried. I didn’t feel like I deserved such high praise from this man, but it warmed my broken stone heart. I’d hardened over the years, but seeing my family whole again broke my tough exterior and revealed the Y/N they once knew; the kid with broken skin, but a big heart. I’d stopped self-harming for them. I lived for them. Now, I was ready to die for them. If it meant they would see the light again, feel the sun on their faces, smell the flowers again, I’d die a thousand times over. I just didn’t know how soon I’d have the chance to make good on that promise.

  
When I told the camp that Noctis was back, there was a spark that lit in everyone’s eyes. I saw them perk up and seem interested in what I had to say for the first time in ten years. I didn’t know what to call it then, but I know now that the spark was hope. Most didn’t know the ‘revised’ prophecy, so they thought that their saviour had returned. The light would finally come back to Lucis. I announced that the five of us would be leaving for the Crown City in a few hours.

“Celebrate! You will feel the sun on your skin and the wind in your hair again!” I allowed myself to smile as I thought of the sun, its warmth embracing me and returning life to the world. “You’ve all been so strong for ten years, and now your waiting is done. For the next forty-eight hours, keep your guard up. Anticipate the best, but remember, until Ardyn is defeated, demons still run rampant. Third patrol, you may go now. The rest of you, rest easy. Your saviour is here, and you’ll be free soon.”

I turned away from the dispersing crowd, my breath shaky and my hands trembling. I showed them to my friends, laughing at the irony.

“Throw me in a field with fifty demons and I’ll demolish them all with no hesitation, but if you put me in front of a crowd and tell me to give a speech, I’ll probably faint.”

“At least you _sounded_ confident. Besides, it was a good speech.”

“Thanks, Prompto. So, eat a light meal, get some rest, and we’ll leave for the Crown City in about eight hours.”

“I just slept for ten years.”

“Noct, floating in the space between realities and having conversations with gods is not sleeping. Put your head on a pillow, close your eyes, and relax. I promise, this is the safest place you could be right now.”

“I don’t doubt that. You run a tight ship.”

“Damn straight. I guess I learned something from Clarus after all.”

“And what would that be?”

“How to be just scary enough that you demand respect without having your subordinates pass out from fear.”

“Uh-huh. I bet he’d be _so_ proud.”

“Shut it. Let’s just go get some sleep.”

We all had our meal in the diner, catching Noctis up on the last ten years. As gentle as we tried to be, he was still overwhelmed.

“This must be what it felt like for you, Y/N/N. Your whole world, gone without your knowledge, and you couldn’t have done anything to stop it. The end of the world as you knew it. It’s all over.”

“Noct, my world was doomed from the start. There was no saving it from its fate, but Lucis has a chance. We can save it. I already lost one home. I’m not letting Ardyn take this one away, but I need you by my side with your head in the game. We will bring the light back. Just stay with me, Noct. Please.”

He’d only aged ten years, but he looked like an old war veteran; worn and weary, with that thousand-yard stare of a man always reliving the worst moments of his life. I knew he was in pain, but I needed his help. I was the Saviour, but I couldn’t do it without _all_ of my brothers by my side. I could only hope that he’d be ready when the time came.

 

* * *

 

 

I jolted awake when I felt someone shaking me. Before I could grab the knife under my pillow, my attacker stopped me.

“Kid, calm down. It’s just me.”

I rolled my eyes, blowing out a long, exasperated exhale.

“Cor, I’ve told you before. You wake me up like that, you will get stabbed.”

“You’ve failed to follow up on that threat so far, so I think I’m safe. Now, get up. It’s time to go.”

I’d honestly forgotten about that. You would think you’d remember if you were saving the world, but I’d gotten so used to just fighting day to day for survival. I packed up what little I would need; water, rations, first aid supplies, flashlight and batteries, and my daggers. I gingerly held the daggers in my hands. I hadn’t used them since Red Giants started showing up. They weren’t really effective against them, and besides, I didn’t want to risk them getting destroyed. Now, though, they were the only weapon I was taking. In all my dreams, my daggers were a central focus. I would kill Ardyn with these, that I was sure of. As I prepared for what might be my last fight, I put away all of my past, so my emotions wouldn’t get in my way. All of it except for the day Ardyn took the light from my world. I held on to that memory, that moment. That would fuel my fire, and it would guide my blade to Ardyn’s corrupted, rotting heart. I was ready.

I had one last speech to make to the camp before we left. If things didn’t go to plan, if we didn’t make it back, they would need to know the truth.

“Well, the time is here, everyone. The day we’ve been waiting for all these years. Now, before we head out, you need to know the truth. However, it will probably be better hearing it from Noctis.”

Noct stood up, taking his place by my side.

“I’m not your saviour.”

Gasps and murmurs went around the crowd, who couldn’t believe what he’d said.

“I am the true king, yes, but I’m not the one who will defeat Ardyn and bring the light back. My long lost brother, Y/N, is your saviour. He is the one the prophecy speaks of, the one who will drive his dagger into Ardyn’s corrupted heart. You can refuse to believe it if you want, but I will take no credit for his bravery when this is over.”

He nodded to me and returned to his seat.

“That is the truth. Take it how you will. Now, we have to leave. Ardyn has extended an invitation, and we would be rude to refuse it.”

Cheers erupted in the crowd. I bowed, thanking the Six that they took the news well. I motioned to my friends to follow me. We approached the garage, and I opened the door. Inside, the Regalia was as glorious as she was ten years ago.

“You guys ready to kick some ass?”

“Aww, hell yeah! Let’s go kick some Magitek butt!”

We all hopped in the car, with Noctis and Iggy in the front and Gladio, Prompto and me in the back. Noct sped down the road, kicking up clouds of dust as the camp faded from view.

 

* * *

  
The palace appeared on the horizon all too quickly. We were all donning our Kingsglaive uniforms and we looked _like total badasses._ The moment we jumped out of the car, we tore through Magitek troops and demons like a freight train. We were ready to kill Ardyn, and nothing could stop us. Except for a god. Ifrit, specifically.

He sat on his fiery throne, blocking the entrance to the palace. Noctis and I looked at each other, and at that moment, I swear we could both read each other’s mind. We knelt to the ground, channeling our energy and focus. We didn’t know if this would work or not, but we had to try. We got our answer as the sky lit up with flashes of blue light. A shadow appeared and got closer with each flash until Bahamut himself came out of the clouds, sword raised and ready to strike. He came down on Ifrit with the force of the cosmos. Ifrit stood no chance. With a single agonizing wail, he disintegrated into a cloud of ash. We all knelt before the god who saved us. Bahamut nodded to Noct and I and we did the same. He disappeared back into the clouds.

“What was that?!?!”

“We summoned Bahamut. There was no way we could defeat Ifrit.”

“Maybe next time we could have some warning?”

Gladio had been blasted into a pillar when Bahamut came down.

“Sorry. It was a spur of the moment thing.”

We had a laugh at Gladio’s expense, but even he joined in. With a heavy heart I turned towards the palace and climbed the steps. My friends started to follow me but I turned and stopped them.

“Guys, I think I need to do this alone. Besides, I can’t risk you getting hurt.”

“Y/N/N, come on. You can’t be serious.”

“Prompto, Y/N is right. This is his battle to fight, not ours. We will remain here and defend him as best we can from the outside.”

“I can’t thank you guys enough for what you’ve done for me. You took me in when I had no one, and when my world was destroyed, you stayed with me through thick and thin. No matter how bad I was towards you four, you gave me only love and kindness. I love you, all of you, and if I don’t make it back, know that I don’t regret a single moment with you. Walk tall, my brothers.”

I turned away from them, dashing up the stairs.

“Wait, Y/N!”

I stopped, turning back to see Prompto rushing towards me.

“Prom, please, I have to go.”

“Just take this with you, please. So you’re not alone.”

He handed me a photo of the five of us, sitting around a campfire. We were all smiling, even Iggy was flashing a toothy grin. I hugged Prompto tightly.

“Thank you, Prom. You’ve been a wonderful friend.”

“You too, Y/N. Come back to us, okay?”

As we pulled apart, we both knew I couldn’t promise that, but I nodded anyways. Prompto rejoined the group and I entered the palace, knowing full well I might not come back out.

 

* * *

  
Inside, the whole place was trashed. The mess got worse as I made my way to the throne room, where Ardyn was surely waiting for me. I was right. When I opened the door, I saw Ardyn, lounging on the throne. When he looked up he was genuinely confused, but he quickly hid it under a vicious smile.

“Well, well, well. You are not the prince I was expecting, but you will do. I suppose the prophecy said you would kill me?”

I didn’t give him an answer. I wasn’t there to chat. I was there to kill him, and he knew it. He seemed very intent on monologuing, though. He’d destroyed my home and killed my father, and if he talked any longer, I was going to just stab him in the back and be done with it. However, a part of me was curious about what he had to say.

“Hmm, you didn’t seem the silent type before. Though, I suppose ten years can change a person, can’t it?”

I rolled my eyes. Seriously, did every bad guy have to monologue and tell his whole backstory?

“Hmm. Well, I heard you took charge and created a little survivor camp in Hammerhead.”

How did he know about that? He had only just gotten to the palace, there was no way he knew about the camp. He would have killed everyone.

“Yes, I knew about your little militia. The only reason you and your friends are alive is because I wasn’t up to date, as you’d call it. Noctis had yet to return from wherever he was, so I allowed you to live. I see now that was a mistake. No matter. I will kill you, then your boy band out there. Your camp and the other survivors will submit to me, or die. I will rule Lucis, and you will not stand in my way.”

“Ardyn, you may love the sound of your own voice, but I personally was never a fan. You’re just another comic book villain with overzealous ambitions and a petty revenge plot. You will _not_ rule Lucis. I _will_ stand in your way. This is my home, and I won’t let you take it from me.”

“You have no true power. You had to work with Noctis to even summon one of the Six. You are strong, though. Stand down now, and I’ll let you serve me. “

“Sorry, Ardyn. That’s not happening.”

“Such a shame to waste such malicious talent.”

“Can you just shut up and die already? Holy Six, you’re a talker.”

“As you wish, my prince.”

I unsheathed my daggers, taking my stance. I’d learned how to use the royal arms over the last ten years, but I wanted to make sure the last thing Ardyn felt was the cold steel of my dagger piercing his heart as I stood over him.

“You know, there’s still time to put down your weapons and join me.”

“You’ll have to find your ‘malicious talent’ later I’m afraid. Why don’t you look for it in Hell!”

With a battle cry worthy of a viking, I charged. Just as I reached Ardyn, I rolled to the side, slashing at his calf. His own sword was there before my dagger, and I was quick to move out of its range. We took our stances again, circling each other. Before he got a chance to say anything else, I leapt in the air, scaling a column and using the power of my ancestors to fly across the grand hall, bearing down on Ardyn like a homing missile. I flew just past him, whipping my left dagger out and cutting his shoulder. My dagger caught on his jacket and flew off to the side. He seemed surprised, touching the wound with his other hand as if to make sure it was real. When he pulled his hand away and saw his own blood, he was pissed. He came at me, finally ready to fight for real. We exchanged dashes and parries and hits. After just a few minutes, we were both littered with wounds. Suddenly, I felt a cold wave surge through my body.

_Don’t forget the weapons you’ve been given.  Don’t let your father’s death be in vain. Use your ancestry and brandish the weapons of the kings of old. The Six are with you, Y/N Lucis Caelum._

Hearing those surnames with my own name filled me with hope and courage. I called upon the armiger I had been building. Within seconds, I was surrounded by phantom weapons.

“Well done, little prince. However, you are not the only one with special ancestry. History always forgets the scorned royalty.”

I was taken aback when Ardyn produced his own armiger, just as powerful as mine.

“Everyone forgets Ardyn Lucis Caelum! That will happen no more! Soon, no one will be able to _forget_ my name! I will be the one who rules Lucis and brought a whole world to its knees! And you will be the first to fall, **_nephew_ **!”

While I was processing what he’d said, Ardyn unleashed his force on me, barely giving me time to defend myself, let alone return an attack. We flew around the hall, dodging attacks and throwing our own. I could see him getting weary, but so was I. It was time for a last resort. I channeled all my strength through the ring and called out to the Six.

_Glorious Six. If you can hear me, I need your help once more. I can’t end Ardyn myself, but I can with your assistance. Give me the strength to take down the Corrupted One once and for all._

**_We hear you, and we give you our strength to destroy the Corrupted One and save Lucis._ **

My body felt like it was being cooked from the inside out in a split second, but I could feel the raw power behind it. I managed to focus beyond the pain, and I unleashed all I had on Ardyn. With a final cry, I gave everything I had left. Ardyn and I fell to the floor. This is where all my dreams started. With great effort, I pushed myself up and slowly made my way to Ardyn, who was lying immobile next to the throne. I unsheathed my dagger. With a vicious grin, I threw myself down on Ardyn, aiming for his heart. At the last second, Ardyn’s eyes opened, and he produced my other dagger from his side. As my dagger pierced his heart, he stabbed my gut with the other. He smirked, and spoke with great struggle.

“Now, we both lose. Say goodbye to your precious Lucis.”

He breathed his last and fell limp. I rolled to the side, my abdomen causing me blinding pain. As I rolled, I glanced at the window. Light. Light was slowly streaming in. Lucis was saved. I heard feet pounding down the corridor, and faintly, someone called my name. Through fading vision, I saw my friends gathered around me. I felt someone try to remove the dagger, and I screamed.

“Sorry, sorry. Holy Six, kid, what did he do to you?”

“Nothing worse than I did to him. You know, he was a Lucis Caelum, too. He-”

I gritted my teeth as a wave of pain shot through me. I felt tears streaming from my eyes. I realized that I wasn’t okay with dying. I couldn’t die. I couldn’t leave my friends and my brothers. I couldn’t leave my home again. I silently begged the Six to let me live, but there was no response this time. I gripped onto Gladio, who had my head resting in his lap.

“Gladio, I don’t want to die. I can’t leave you guys. I can’t lose you. I can’t! I can’t!”

I knew he wanted to tell me it would be okay, that I’d be fine, but he couldn’t. Gladio couldn’t save me, and that scared the hell out of me.

“I know, Y/N. I know. You won’t be losing us. We’ll.. We’ll be with you just like you’ll always be with us.”

Now everyone was crying, even big man Gladio. As I cried, I could feel everything fading away. My grip on Gladio loosened, and I couldn’t breathe.

“No, no, Y/N, please don’t. Kid, stay with us!”

“Y/n, please don’t die! No, come on!”

“Y/N, I just found you. I can’t lose my brother again.”

The last voice I heard was Ignis, soft as ever.

“Please. Don’t leave. I beg of you.”

I was terrified, but I couldn’t do a thing to stop it as I faded away, leaving my limp body in Gladio’s arms as my friends openly sobbed around me.


	19. Stand By Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter. I started this fic on November 3, 2016. I never imagined it would ever become what it is today. In my opinion, it's the best thing I've ever written. Thank you all for enjoying it, and as always, comments and criticism are always welcome! :)

_ I was weightless, and felt nothing. All my senses were repressed. Suddenly, a flash of white light appeared, and I was surrounded by psychedelic colours and stars. I was sitting in a large hand, looking up at the king of the Six himself, Bahamut. _

**_“You saved Lucis. The corrupted one is defeated, and the light has returned. You will be remembered as the Saviour of Lucis forever. We thank you for your service.”_ **

_ “I’m dead, aren’t I?” _

**_“Yes. You gave your life to save billions.”_ **

_ “How long have I been dead?” _

**_“Three minutes.”_ **

_ “I know this is probably how it was supposed to end, but.. I don’t want to die. I just got my home back after losing my first. I know the laws of nature, but please. Let me live. I just want to live out the life that was stolen from me by the cosmic deities.” _

_ I wasn’t expecting any answer, but I wasn’t expecting the answer I got, either. _

**_“I believe we can make an exception for the Saviour. Go. Live your life. You have more than earned it.”_ **

_ I felt a pressure in my gut, then nothing again. _

I sat up with a start, gasping for air. My friends all jumped back. My gut clenched in pain, causing me to scream.

“Holy Six, Y/N!”

I was attacked by my four brothers, who were elated to see me alive.

“Thanks, guys. Uhm, still have a stab wound. Kinda painful.”

They pulled back quickly, and I laid back down.

“We-you were- you were dead! You were dead for like, five minutes.”

“Bahamut let me live. Apparently saving a world means you get a second chance.”

“Well, we’re not complaining. We’re glad you’re alive.”

“Yeah, me too. But I still have a hella painful stab wound. So, could we maybe head back to Hammerhead and get me stitched up?”

“Yes, of course. And you will receive a warm welcome from everyone, I’m sure.”

Gladio and Noctis helped me up, and we all slowly made our way back to the Regalia.

“Y/N, you can sit in the front this time.”

“Thanks, Prom, but I think I’ll stay in the back. Lot of good memories in this car, and they’re all in the backseat.”

He shrugged, climbing into the front. Noct took Ignis’ place at the wheel, while Ignis took the seat to my left. As we drove towards Hammerhead, racing the rising sun, the world felt right again. Prompto had foregone his seatbelt and safety, turning in his seat to talk to me and Gladio. Gladio ignored Prompto, his nose stuck in a book. Noct occasionally piped up, adding a snarky comment or two. Ignis was silent as ever, but there was no hiding his smile. I’d lost everything once, and almost lost it again, but at that moment, I was glad that even cosmic deities make mistakes.


	20. Update

Hey, everyone! First off, I'm so thankful for all the support this work has gotten! I honestly never thought this would be as liked as it is, and I'm so glad y'all enjoyed it!

Since about halfway through writing this, I've had an idea for a sort of 'continuation' series. I wanted this part of the series to end eventually, and I was and am happy with the ending. However, I've really been wanting to write more of this so I've started a new one. It basically just chronicles life after the light returns, and the rebuilding of Lucis. And I've decided to give the reader a love interest. I wanted this one to mainly focus on the reader and their journey and relationships without the distraction a romantic relationship would bring. Yes, it is a man (cause this is kinda self inserted and I'm hella gay), however, I am totally willing to make a copy of the second series with a gender neutral partner. Hell, if y'all want it, I'll do the same thing for this one. You are the reason this series is here, so I owe it to you to make some adjustments here and there if you want it. 

I can't thank you enough for the support and comments this work has gotten. It makes me so happy to see that you guys are enjoying it this much. If you have any requests, please feel free to tell me and I'll see what I can do. If you're curious, the fandoms I mainly write for are on my main page.

Also, I need your opinion. Should there be smut in the second series or not? I'm not adverse to writing smut, but I don't want it to take up too much of the story. 

Thank you again so much for the support and just for reading this! 


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